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Project on Predatory Student Lending
Judge Orders That Department of Education Cannot Resume Issuing Borrower Defense Denials Without Notifying Court and Borrowers | Press Release
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Optimism and Hope: “Fail State” Forum and Panel Look Ahead | Blog
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Harvard Magazine
“Attacking the Concept of Debt” | Harvard Magazine
Student Loan Truth: Eynelys’ DeVry University Story | Blog
DeVry misled Eynelys about their financial aid plan and job placement services, leading her to drop out of her program. In 2016, the Federal Trade Commission sued DeVry for making deceptive claims related to graduate job placement rates and compensation. Eynelys filed a borrower defense application four years ago, seeking relief from her student loan debt, and still has not received a decision from the Department of Education.
Student Loan Truth: Ollie’s New England Institute of Art Story | Blog
The New England Institute of Art promised Ollie Venezia flexible class schedules, 1-on-1 support, quality internship placements, and post-graduation career help. What they got was something else entirely. What they got was almost $200,000 of student loan debt – and an invoice instead of a diploma on graduation day. This is Ollie’s story.
What the Latest Student Debt Announcement from The Department of Education Means for Defrauded Borrowers | Blog
On March 18, 2021, the Department announced full debt cancellation for borrowers with partial relief decisions on their borrower defense applications. More than 90% of borrower defense applicants are not affected by the Education Department’s partial relief announcement because their applications were denied or because they are still waiting for a decision. Here’s what that means.
Left in the Lurch by Private Loans From For-Profit Colleges | New York Times
Ms. Campbell’s loan is a tiny fraction of the more than $30 million owed to Florida Career College’s parent company, the International Education Corporation. The company doesn’t care whether she, and thousands of others, ever fully pay it back. Its main reason for lending to people like her is so the company can operate its other, much more lucrative business model — reaping revenue from federal student aid. By law, a tenth of a for-profit school’s revenue must come from sources other than federal financial aid (loans, grants and other programs students use to pay for college) and loans like Ms. Campbell’s help them meet that quota.
90% of Borrowers Who Claim They Were Scammed By Their Schools Were Denied Relief | MarketWatch
Students who attended colleges that have misled them have the right under the law to have their federal student loans discharged, but over the past few years, accessing that relief has been nearly impossible, despite evidence of malfeasance by their schools, new documents suggest. More than 200 borrowers who attended a school where an admissions representative pled guilty to making a false statement in an application for federal student aid had their applications for relief denied by the Department of Education, according to the documents.
A DeVos System Allowed 12 Minutes to Decide Student Loan Forgiveness | New York Times
Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made no secret of her disdain for a program intended to forgive the federal student loans of borrowers who were ripped off by schools that defrauded their students. She called it a “free money” giveaway, let hundreds of thousands of claims languish for years, and slashed the amount of relief granted to some successful applicants to $0.
Project on Predatory Student Lending Statement on Order in NYLAG v. DeVos | Blog
On Wednesday (March 17th) a judge ruled on the challenge to the DeVos borrower defense rule in the case NYLAG v. DeVos. We argued that many different parts of the rule are unlawful and illogical. The judge agreed that the three-year statute of limitations on defensive claims was illegal, and sent that part back to…
A First Move on Borrower Defense | Inside Higher Ed
The Education Department announced yesterday that students who were cheated by for-profit institutions and previously granted partial relief on their direct federal loans will now be granted full relief. The department is rolling back a controversial formula — established under the previous secretary, Betsy DeVos — that gave some borrowers only partial debt forgiveness, even if it was found that they were defrauded or misled by their college.
Students: DeVos’s Dept. Of Education Deliberately Thwarted Student Loan Forgiveness Program | Forbes
In new court documents filed today, student loan borrowers in an ongoing class action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education accused officials acting under former Secretary Betsy DeVos of coordinating deliberate efforts to thwart a key student loan forgiveness program.
How COVID-19 Has Impacted Thousands of Defrauded Student Borrowers | Blog
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented economic vulnerability for millions of people across the country. For student borrowers who have been defrauded by for-profit colleges, this struggle has only been exacerbated.