As the economy struggles to recover from a recession, proposed Department of Education rules risk further disruptions to career opportunities for many Americans. By the end of this decade, nearly eight in 10 new jobs will require some form of post-secondary school education. Yet the U.S. Department of Education is acting to restrict access to such education, particularly for poor and non-traditional students.

As the CEO of one of Michigan’s most extensive group of career schools, Ross Medical Education Centers, I read the newly proposed government rules with great interest – and ultimately tremendous disappointment. The DOE’s rules purport to protect lower-income and working Americans from slick marketing, fast-talking proprietary schools. In actuality, it will punish those it intends to protect.

The proposed “gainful employment” rule would make entire programs ineligible for student financial aid if they fail to meet a one-size-fits-all test that has little to do with academic quality. It would base eligibility on the ratio of student debt to student income following graduation. Institutions as varied as Ivy League medical schools, small local non-profit schools, community colleges and, yes, potentially some of my schools, are not meeting these new standards.

However, the regulations proposed by the DOE effectively apply only to “for profit” institutions such as mine and leaves many institutions that cannot meet these standards unaffected. For schools like Ross, the failure to meet the standards will result in programs and institutions becoming ineligible to offer federal financial aid to students. It will severely limit education and career opportunities for thousands of students and will affect employers who have depended upon schools such as ours for skilled staff.

Applying this policy to only one segment of post-secondary education effectively discriminates against those the policy seeks to protect by limiting access to the key contributor to economic success in our economy – education. Today, the unemployment rate for adults who have never has any post-secondary education is almost double what it is for those who have, and the earning gap between those with a college education and those without continues to grow.

Ross’ students, predominantly women, in particular, will be negatively affected. Studies show that women are far more likely to work part-time and leave and re-enter the workforce multiple times, which adversely and significantly affects their earnings. But, the regulation, if finalized as written, will have the effect of making ineligible many programs that predominantly enroll, graduate and place women in careers ranging from medical assisting to graphic design. The consequence, whether intended or not, will be to limit access and options for women, particularly women from middle- and working-class families, who may not consider traditional college a real choice.

It is critical that the department remember that rules developed in Washington affect real human beings. As I think about these effects, I am reminded of one of our grads, Jody Self. Jody was struggling after she lost her auto-related job, but found Ross in 2005 and started training to become a medical assistant. Today, she works in a doctor’s office and owns her own home. When her daughter lost her job several years later, she also attended Ross, graduated and started a new career. In Ross’s 35-year history, we have many thousands of graduates like Judy who begun careers in the rapidly growing health care field because they received the assistance, support and training they needed at Ross.

Instead of turning our backs people like Jody, we should preserve their access to education opportunities that can help them succeed in today’s economy.