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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
Statement on Education Department Approving ITT Borrower Defense Claims | Press Release
Today, the Department of Education announced that it will approve the borrower defense applications of a select 18,000 student borrowers who attended ITT Technical Institute (ITT). According to the Department, the borrowers will receive 100 percent loan discharges, resulting in approximately $500 million in relief.
Student Loan Truth: For-Profit Colleges Aren’t Just Out to Scam Students. They’re Scamming Their Parents, Too. | Blog
It’s no surprise that being ripped off by a for-profit college impacts more than just the student who attends. A student borrower’s unpayable debts affect their whole family. And there’s a way that parents can bear the debt burden personally: Parent PLUS loans.
Betsy DeVos Ordered to Testify in Student Borrower Class Action | Courthouse News Service
Rejecting arguments that making a cabinet official testify threatens the separation of powers, a federal judge this week ordered former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to answer questions about long delays and mass denials of student debt relief claims.
Student Loan Borrowers Perplexed by Biden Administration’s Continued Defense of Trump-Era Lawsuits | Washington Post
Amanda Kulka expected her six-year fight for student loan cancellation would be over by now. Powerful allies, including a state attorney general and a federal judge, agreed that she and other students in Massachusetts had been defrauded by the defunct for-profit chain Corinthian Colleges. The courts even granted all 7,200 of them a full discharge of their debt in June, rebuking former education secretary Betsy DeVos’s attempt to block their request for relief.
The Project on Predatory Student Lending: 5 Years of Impact | Blog
Project co-founders Toby Merrill and Eileen Connor take a look back at five years of impact helping defrauded student borrowers against for-profit colleges.
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.