Keller @ Large: Colleges Will Eventually Be Held Accountable For Student Debt

BOSTON (CBS) - One thing you have to say about the Internet and its information overload – it is much harder to avoid accountability than it used to be.

Politicians are more quickly and easily held accountable for false or unguarded statements. When journalists mess up, disclosure is immediate.

And if you work in the service industry, you know all about the power of the web and its users to critique your performance.

But some corners of our culture still seem able to limit their accountability. To paraphrase Sen. Elizabeth Warren, it helps to have expensive lobbyists and the ear of powerful Washington elites when you want to fend off scrutiny.

You know, like the higher education industrial complex.

They just managed to water down an Obama administration plan to rate the quality and performance of colleges and universities and link them to federal aid, part of a push to curb waste, fraud and soaring student debt.

While the feds are making available interesting data on what you really get for your exorbitant tuition, they are not rating the schools or threatening their aid, after what the New York Times described as "bitter" opposition from higher ed brass.

I have reached out to Sen. Warren, an advocate for student loan reform who has appeared to grow impatient with the response of higher ed officials to that crisis, and I will pass along her comments if and when I get them.

But I would say this to all the college presidents and their mouthpieces who fought off this latest effort at holding them more accountable – yours is a losing battle.

If you've been a responsible actor, you have nothing to worry about.

But those of you who've been riding a runaway money train better wake up and see that the bridge is out up ahead.

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