18 States Sue Betsy DeVos Over Student Loan Protections

In early February, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Education Secretary. Two Republicans, Senators Murkowski (AK) and Collins (ME), joined the entire Democratic caucus to force an historic tie-breaking vote from Vice President Pence.  Read more at this link.  Her installation to a position of power over our education system means she spends every day implementing policies with destructive consequences for our country.

In mid-June, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos halted new programs intended to help students to eliminate federal loan debt if the schools they attended acted fraudulently and were shut down.

In response, 18 states and Washington DC, led by Massachusetts, are suing the Department of Education and Betsy DeVos.

The Massachusetts attorney general filed a lawsuit... against the Education Department and its secretary, Betsy DeVos, challenging the department’s move last month to freeze new rules for erasing the federal loan debt of student borrowers who were cheated by colleges that acted fraudulently.

The rules, known as borrower defense, were finalized in October by the Obama administration after years of negotiation and review, and they had been scheduled to take effect on July 1.

“Since day one, Secretary DeVos has sided with for-profit school executives against students and families drowning in unaffordable student loans,” said Maura Healey, the state’s attorney general. “Her decision to cancel vital protections for students and taxpayers is a betrayal of her office’s responsibility and a violation of federal law.”

As a reminder, the primary issue at hand came up after for-profit schools failed to provide adequate, advertised education leaving students without job prospects.  Numerous "schools" have shut down leaving students with massive debt and nothing to show for it.

The Obama administration’s push to streamline and expand the borrower defense process came after hundreds of for-profit colleges were accused of widespread fraud and collapsed, leaving their enrolled students with huge debts and no degrees. The failure of two mammoth chains, Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute, gave the issue added urgency.

Taxpayers get stuck with those losses. The rules that Ms. DeVos froze would have shifted some of that risk back to the industry by requiring schools at risk of closing to put up financial collateral. They would also ban mandatory arbitration agreements, which have prevented many aggrieved students from suing schools that they believe have defrauded them.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/business/dealbook/massachusetts-betsy-devos-lawsuit.html

Image Credit: New York Times