Attorney General Lisa Madigan, along with 15 other attorneys general, submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education opposing Secretary Betsy DeVos’ proposal to delay and replace a federal regulation, the Program Integrity and Improvement Rule, which provides consumer protections for students enrolled in online college programs. The rule would increase the transparency and accountability of online programs offered in multiple states and would bolster state regulators’ ability to protect students enrolled in such programs.  The rule, which was slated to go into effect July 1, is designed to strengthen states’ ability to protect online students by requiring schools that offer online programs in multiple states to obtain authorization to operate in each state where programs are offered, to the extent authorization is required under state law.  Madigan and the other attorneys general explain that state oversight is especially important for one sector of the online education industry – for-profit schools. Investigations by state attorneys general have revealed widespread misconduct by for-profit schools.  Joining Madigan in filing the comments are the attorneys general of Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington.