WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Education Department is proposing regulations Friday that would cut off federal aid to for-profit college programs if too many of their students default on loans or don't earn enough after graduation to repay them.

To qualify for student aid programs, career college programs must prepare students for "gainful employment."

The Obama administration - amid lobbying from both for-profit colleges and consumer and student advocates - is proposing a complicated formula. It would weigh the debt-to-income ratio of recent graduates and whether all enrolled students repay their loans on time, regardless of whether they finish their studies.

A Republican senator and for-profit colleges' chief lobbying group warn it would make college less accessible.

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