WASHINGTON — Exotic dancers hired as admissions counselors. Recruiters told to seek out “impatient” individuals who have “few people in their lives who care about them.” Military personnel still recovering from brain damage told to sign on the dotted line.

In the two decades since trade schools started popping up on U.S. stock exchanges to maximize profits, allegations of misconduct have been rampant.

Today, new rules go into effect for any school with a career-training program. Graduates have to be able to earn enough money to repay their student loans, or a school risks losing access to financial aid. In general, annual loan payments shouldn't exceed 20 percent of a graduate's discretionary income or 8 percent of total earnings.

It's a modest step, consumer advocates say, that will probably succeed in shutting down the most obviously fraudulent programs, often criminal justice and medical training programs that can cost as much as $75,000 but aren't sought after by employers. Still, the government's new definition for “gainful employment” is unlikely to change what's become a complicated, enduring problem in the U.S.

Too many poor children, mostly minorities, are reaching adulthood with little education, no prospect of attending a four-year traditional college and not enough time, money or know-how to figure out an alternative path through a local community college. What these students do have is eligibility for government-backed student loans and grants, making them targets for predatory lending schemes that look much like tactics used by subprime lenders during the housing crisis.

Meanwhile, there remains little appetite in Congress and the White House to wade into the business of deciding which diplomas and schools are worthwhile.

“This is a civil rights issue, plain and simple,” said Maura Dundon, senior policy council at the Center for Responsible Lending, which estimates that 28 percent of black students studying for a four-year degree are enrolled at a for-profit college compared to only 10 percent of white students.

For-profit schools say they are meeting a need of students looking for job training.

“Who else in higher education is educating these students? I have yet to get a cogent answer to this,” said Noah Black, a spokesman for the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, or APSCU, a group that represents the $30 billion-a-year industry and sued unsuccessfully to block the regulations.