by Robert Channick

Problems in the beleaguered for-profit college industry are shrinking the ranks of college students.

Plummeting enrollment at for-profit colleges drove a 270,000-person decline in the number of undergraduate and graduate students across the U.S. this fall, and Illinois was among the hardest-hit states.

Nearly 165,000 fewer students enrolled in for-profit colleges nationwide, a 14.5 percent year-over-year decline, according to a report released Monday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.