WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos released a student loan debt relief formula that undercuts defrauded borrowers, particularly those who went to ITT Tech and Corinthian Colleges. The flawed and convoluted methodology, which will be applied to the more than 200,000 outstanding claims pending review by the department, seeks to make it difficult for students to get relief.
Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) Senior Policy Counsel Ashley Harrington released the following statement:
Once again, Secretary DeVos has demonstrated that her goal is to protect predatory for-profit institutions at the expense of borrowers and taxpayers. The Borrower Defense to Repayment rule was created to ensure accountability for the federal investment in higher education. The premise of the rule is that predatory for-profit schools, not students, should be responsible for their own misconduct. These institutions prey on students of color, veterans, and women, often with misrepresentations, false advertising and other abusive tactics. Student borrowers who were defrauded by for-profit colleges like ITT Tech and Corinthian Colleges deserve to have their loans fully discharged. Her plan forces harmed borrowers and taxpayers to stay on the hook for debt even in cases where the evidence of wrongdoing is well-documented and voluminous. Secretary DeVos’ half-baked formula offers little relief to those who need it most and only serves to worsen the student debt crisis.
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Press Contact: ricardo.quinto@responsiblelending.org