"Almost a quarter of federal Pell grant funds for needy students go to for-profit education, according to a new analysis by the research firm Student Lending Analytics," The New York Times reports. "But for-profit colleges -- especially those (University of Phoenix, DeVry University) run by publicly traded companies -- invariably invoke concerns that sales, not education, is the prime mission. And that they serve a pool of vulnerable students who take on large debt and are unable to make enough to pay it back. ... According to the College Board, of four-year graduates who take out loans to attend for-profit colleges, 60 percent have amassed at least $30,000 in debt. To attend publics, only 20 percent of borrowers owe that much. And more graduates of for-profit schools default on their loans: 11 percent within the first two years, compared with 5 percent of nonprofit graduates."