Judge STOPS DeVos from Blocking Student Debt Relief Program

A very positive (for now) update to our July 30, 2018 post.  A Judge has stepped in to stop evil and ignorant Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from ending a program designed to help student defrauded by for-profit colleges.

An Obama-era rule designed to help students cheated by for-profit colleges get relief on their education debt finally took effect Tuesday after efforts by the Trump administration to block it.

A federal judge ordered immediate implementation of the rule, delayed last year by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, while a challenge from the for-profit college industry proceeds.

Attorneys general from 18 states and the District of Columbia successfully sued DeVos last year over her decision to block the rule, known as Borrower Defense to Repayment, from taking effect.

Here is what the program does.  This is what DeVos and her corporate overlords are trying to stop because it costs them money.

The regulation makes federal loan forgiveness automatic for some students who could not complete their education because their schools shut down while they were enrolled. Students are not eligible if they are continuing their education at another school.

There are more than 1,400 schools that closed between 2013 and 2015 whose students may now be automatically eligible for debt forgiveness.

In February 2017, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Education Secretary. Two Republicans joined the entire Democratic caucus voting against her to force an historic tie-breaking vote from Mike 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.

DeVos has been widely criticized by Democrats and consumer advocacy groups for siding with for-profit colleges over students.

She's hired department officials with ties to the for-profit college industry and plans to repeal another rule important to the Obama administration's crackdown on for-profit colleges like Corinthian and ITT Tech, which were accused of defrauding students and eventually shut down.

Backing up for a second, please read our post from July for background on this matter: 

For-profit colleges came under scrutiny during the Obama administration for targeting low-income and minority students who borrow heavily to pay for them, only to earn often worthless degrees. These colleges overwhelmingly rely on students who take federal student loans and who tend to have a harder time repaying them.

DeVos [took] new steps as early as this week [July 2018] toward reversing Obama-era protections for students in debt to for-profit schools, including those that go out of business. It’s the latest in a broader effort by DeVos to recast the mission of her department and to relax safeguards intended to protect economically vulnerable students.

DeVos is also expected to rewrite rules requiring for-profit schools to equip students with minimal employment skills to qualify for federal aid.

DeVos’ plans to transform her department have gone largely unheralded....  But her push to ease regulations on for-profit colleges has opened a new front in the Democratic resistance effort, sparking lawsuits from state officials.

"Today's decision is a huge win for defrauded borrowers around the country," said Julie Murray, a Public Citizen attorney who represents two students involved in the litigation. "Industry will continue to challenge the rule in court, but we will work as long as it takes to defeat those corporate interests and an administration beholden to them."

Sources: 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/16/politics/devos-borrower-defense-lawsuit/index.html

http://smartdissent.com/article/update-devos-ends-program-gave-students-debt-relief-fraudulent