Betsy DeVos Overruled Education Dept. Findings On Defrauded Student Borrowers

[tulc]

Betsy DeVos Overruled Education Dept. Findings On Defrauded Student Borrowers

Documents obtained by NPR shed new light on a bitter fight between defrauded student borrowers and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

These borrowers — more than 200,000 of them — say some for-profit colleges lied to them about their job prospects and the transferability of credits. They argue they were defrauded and that the Education Department should erase their federal student loan debt under a rule called "borrower defense."

DeVos disagrees: She says most student borrowers still got value from these schools and deserve only partial relief from their federal loans.

Now, internal Education Department memos obtained by NPR show that career staff in the department's Borrower Defense Unit came down firmly on the side of defrauded borrowers.

The memos show this unit reviewed thousands of borrower complaints against now-defunct, for-profit colleges, including Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute. Just weeks before DeVos was sworn in as secretary, the unit recommended to the department's political leadership that these borrowers deserve no less than full relief from their student debts.

One memo, dated Jan. 9, 2017, begins: "Corinthian Colleges, Inc. ('Corinthian') consistently represented that all graduates obtained jobs after graduation or, relatedly, that its students were guaranteed employment after graduation. These representations were false and misleading. Accordingly, the Borrower Defense Unit recommends full relief for Corinthian borrower defense (BD) applicants."

Another memo, dated the next day — Jan. 10, 2017 — arrived at the same conclusion for California-based students who allege they were lied to by ITT Technical Institute, and likewise recommended full relief.

Gosh who would have thought putting someone who's business was in collecting on student debt wouldn't be good at helping forgive students ripped off by schools? It almost makes you wonder if this article from 2017 was right:
Betsy DeVos Ethics Report Reveals Ties to Student Debt Collection Firm

"It is already unquestionable that Betsy DeVos is the most unqualified Education Secretary nominee in our nation's history, but it is clear that if she is confirmed, she will make the student debt crisis exponentially worse," said Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now, who has pushed for meaningful solutions in the state of Wisconsin. "Allowing borrowers to refinance their federal student loans, just like you can a mortgage, is something that would immediately allow 25 million borrowers get lower interest rates at no net cost to taxpayers."

"But if Betsy DeVos is personally profiting from the existing system, she will likely do nothing to help the hardworking student loan borrowers across Wisconsin and across the nation," said Ross.

tulc(is shocked!)

 

[JackRT]

Betsy DeVos Overruled Education Dept. Findings On Defrauded Student Borrowers

Gosh who would have thought putting someone who's business was in collecting on student debt wouldn't be good at helping forgive students ripped off by schools? It almost makes you wonder if this article from 2017 was right:
Betsy DeVos Ethics Report Reveals Ties to Student Debt Collection Firm

tulc(is shocked!)

I am shocked too but after three years of the Trump administration I can no longer say that I am not surprised.

 

[HannahT]

I would be curious as to how they will come to the conclusions about 'how much' relief they will receive at this point.

Quote:

In a statement, Education Department press secretary Angela Morabito tells NPR: " 'Full relief' sounds nice, but it really means 'full liability' for taxpayers – and that's not fair in cases where a borrower is not entitled to it. That's why it's imperative that we consider each Borrower Defense claim individually. To force taxpayers to provide blanket forgiveness would be abandoning our duty to be good stewards of tax dollars. The Department will provide student loan relief to those who qualify for it."