By GINA MACRIS
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- Former R.I. Attorney General and gubernatorial candidates Patrick C. Lynch has been hired as a consultant by a Washington D.C.-based trade group representing for-profit colleges, the Coalition for Educational Success.

Lynch will advise the group on developing "Standards of Responsible Conduct" for its member schools that are intended to "ensure that career college students receive quality education and job training," according to Penny Lee, managing director of the Coalition for Educational Success.

For-profit colleges have been under attack for recruiting poor and minority students, in particular, to high-cost programs that leave them with huge loans and few job skills.

The trade group's rules would respond to proposed regulations of the Obama administration intended to protect college students from deceptive recruiting practices.

Former Governors Edward G. Rendell, of Pennsylvania, and Thomas H. Kean, of New Jersey, are also involved in developing the coalition's new standards.