Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirmed what we already knew it would confirm: According to its own investigation, errors were made in producing a report highly damaging to for‐​profit colleges, but no one had any bad intentions and the report still stands. Well, the significantly revised report — the one much more favorable to for‐​profits schools that got almost no attention because GAO sneaked it out — still stands. And please, don’t try to hold the GAO accountable yourself: The GAO’s press release states that the report on its internal investigation will not be publicly released.


Now, it’s quite possible that the GAO investigation on for‐​profit colleges really was on the up‐​and‐​up and there truly isn’t anything to see here. But given the very basic things that the GAO, um, overlooked in its initial report — not to mention the fact that the GAO works for the public — it’s simply not acceptable to tell the public that it’s none of its beeswax what the GAO’s internal investigation found. And really, why should anyone be satisfied with a government agency declaring itself its own judge and jury?