The Obama Administration's new rules regarding gainful employment after college have for-profit institutions scrambling to defend themselves and get paperwork in to federal officials.

"The big challenge is that all schools within 30 days have to provide a series of reports to the U.S.Department of Education," said Steve Gunderson, president and chief executive of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities.

The new regulations target colleges that leave students with overwhelmingly large loans to pay off, and not enough of a pay check to cover all their debt. Going forward, if a typical student's loan payment for a particular institution is more than 20 percent of discretionary income, or 8 percent of total earnings, then the school risks losing access to federal aid.

New York State keeps a tally of for-profit, or proprietary, colleges. But according to Gunderson's organization, the federal regulations could affect 140 New York institutions, and up to 30,000 students in the state, mostly those studying culinary arts, design and nursing.

"If you go into those careers that don't have great starting salaries, you are automatically in a program that will be killed under this regulation," Gunderson said.

City officials applauded the action from the Obama Administration.

"Increased accountability and assurance of gainful employment is exactly what the for-profit school industry needs,” said city Consumer Affairs Commissioner Julie Menin.

In a separate action, city officials launched an investigation in February into four area for-profit colleges for allegedly predatory practices against students.