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The $1.7 Billion Student Loan Deal That Was Too Good to Be True | New York Times
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Washington Post
DeVry, ITT Tech students among thousands of defrauded borrowers to receive $415 million in loan cancellation | Washington Post
Press Releases
Project on Predatory Student Lending
New Report Details Massive Scale of Fraud and Abuse at Notorious For-Profit College ITT Tech | Press Release
Statement On Student Loan Discharge for Borrowers Cheated by Marinello Schools of Beauty | Press Release
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced that 28,000 borrowers who attended Marinello Schools of Beauty will receive loan discharges totaling approximately $238 million, as part of a group borrower defense discharge.
The Biden Administration’s DOJ Continues to Shield DeVos in Borrower Defense Proceeding | Press Release
Student borrowers in the lawsuit Sweet v. Cardona (formerly Sweet v. DeVos) on Monday filed a response to a court request asking whether the issue of deposing former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos should be reheard “en banc” in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. If granted, a panel of judges in the Ninth Circuit would reconsider whether Plaintiffs will be allowed to depose former Secretary DeVos about her knowledge surrounding the Department of Education’s long-delayed borrower defense process.
In Case You Missed It: A National Spotlight On ITT’s Fraud and Abuse | Blog
Just last week, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois used his time on the Senate floor to bring the “Dreams Destroyed” report before his Congressional colleagues.
Student Borrower Advocates Ask Education Department to Cancel 25+-Year-Old Debts from Closed For-Profit Colleges | Press Release
Student borrower advocates submitted a group closed school discharge request today to the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of all student borrowers, including their clients, who attended a for-profit school listed in the Department’s official closed school search file with a closure date prior to January 1, 1994. Due to the timing of their loans, these borrowers lack access to alternative borrower defense rights to cancel their loans.
Student borrowers are keeping the pressure up in 2022 | Blog
In just three months of 2022, we’ve seen notable progress in the fight towards holding predatory for-profit colleges and those who enable them accountable. From a scathing report detailing ITT’s decades of wrongdoing, to students in Sweet v. Cardona calling out the growing borrower defense backlog, borrowers are not letting up and keeping the pressure on the Education Department’s arbitrarily long and winding road to justice.
When colleges defraud students, should the government go after school executives? | NPR
In a shocking investigation, the U.S. Senate declared the federal student loan program “plagued by fraud and abuse.” Its report heaped scorn on for-profit trade schools for serving 22% of federal student loan borrowers but accounting for 44% of defaults. “The school keeps the student aid money … and the student is left holding the bag with a poor credit rating, no job and no income to repay the student loan,” U.S. Rep. Marge Roukema, R-N.J., declaimed in her crusade against for-profit “bad apples.”
Student Loan Truth: Gainful Employment Not Guaranteed | Blog
One topic that came up again and again during the Department of Education’s February Negotiated Rulemaking sessions was gainful employment of for-profit college graduates – or the lack thereof.
Report On Fraud Committed By ITT Technical Institute Highlights Need To Protect Student Loan Borrowers With Stronger Regulation Of For-Profit Colleges | Forbes
Last week the Project on Predatory Lending released an extensive report detailing abuses by the now-closed ITT Technical Institute (ITT Tech). The report details how ITT Tech systematically defrauded millions of students over decades, abused the federal financial aid system and left students weighed down with student loan debt and worthless credentials.
How the Arbitrary Borrower Defense Process Failed These Student Borrowers | Blog
It’s no secret that the Department of Education has repeatedly let defrauded student borrowers down. Part of the problem is the arbitrary borrower defense process the Department of Education has used to determine who gets relief and who doesn’t. Take Jen and Debi – two borrowers with almost identical stories who both applied for borrower defense, but only one got her loans cancelled.
Student Borrowers File New Brief in Lawsuit Regarding Borrower Defense Delays and Backlog | Press Release
Today, student borrowers submitted a new filing in the lawsuit Sweet v. Cardona regarding the U.S. Education Department’s ongoing delays in processing borrower defense claims. The filing follows Judge William Alsup’s request for a status update as to what is taking so long to resolve the claims. Several borrowers have written directly to Judge Alsup in recent months seeking answers.