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A group of 19 state attorneys general is suing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for delaying an overhaul of rules to erase the federal student debt of borrowers defrauded by colleges.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia are suing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Education Department over DeVos’s decision to roll back rules designed to help students who have been defrauded by their colleges.

The Trump administration sent the clearest signal yet that it will take a different approach on Title IX enforcement when it issued a memo this month telling civil rights investigators to investigate only specific allegations in complaints — rather than take the systemic approach favored by the Obama administration.

Two former students of an Education Management Corporation-owned for-profit college have filed suit to intervene as defendants in a lawsuit challenging borrower-defense regulations. The Department of Education cited the lawsuit, which was brought by an association of California for-profit colleges, in announcing a delay of the borrower-defense rule this week.

In federal filings, the Education Department said it would renegotiate the federal “gainful employment” rule, which stops government money from flowing to for-profit colleges whose students take on too much debt, but earn little after they graduate. Years in the making — it went into effect in 2015 after surviving two lengthy court battles with the for-profit college industry — the regulation is arguably the most significant piece of President Obama’s higher education legacy.

The Trump administration is suspending two key rules from the Obama administration that were intended to protect students from predatory for-profit colleges, saying it will soon start the process to write its own regulations.

The move made Wednesday by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was a victory for Republican lawmakers and for-profit colleges that had lobbied against the rules. Critics denounced it, accusing the administration of essentially selling out students to help for-profit colleges stay in business.

When Stephano Del Rose enrolled in the New England Institute of Art in Brookline, he had bold dreams of a future in Web design and filmmaking. Lured by promises of cutting-edge digital equipment, internships, and industry connections, Del Rose, now 25, quickly signed on. But his enrollment contract instead led to a world of broken promises, heavy debt, and limited legal options.