WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning, education and consumer advocates convened outside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to condemn the announced plan by Mick Mulvaney of the Trump Administration to dissolve the CFPB’s Office for Students and Young Consumers. Watch video of the press conference that included representatives from twelve states, DC, and the US Virgin Islands.

"Mulvaney is shutting the Office for Students in the middle of a student debt crisis. It's like sending the fire trucks home in the middle of a three-alarm fire," said Alexis Goldstein, Senior Policy Analyst at Americans for Financial Reform.

“The CFPB’s many wins for students & borrowers, including securing over $750 million in student loan relief, acting to help veterans save over $20 million in just one year on interest rates, and handling over 50,000 student loan complaints on federal and private student loan servicing, debt collection, and more, are exactly what an agency devoted to CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION should be doing. This move to dismantle the Office for Students and Young Consumers is devastating for students,” said Jennifer Wang, Director at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS).

“Shutting down the student loan office is the latest in a long series of actions that demonstrate Mr. Mulvaney is more interested in protecting predatory financial actors than 44 million student loan borrowers saddled with 1.4 trillion in student loan debt. Congress needs to reject attempts to weaken the CFPB and the Administration must nominate a permanent director who has experience in and a commitment to protecting consumers,” said Marceline White, Executive Director at the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition.

“Betsy Devos and Mick Mulvaney are destroying federal protections for student loan borrowers and trying to block states’ ability to implement protections. States must step up to enact legislation, with enforcement capabilities, that require licensing and oversight of student loan servicers who continue to deceive and abuse consumers. With almost $35 million in student debt in New Jersey, advocates are pushing to have a Student Loan Ombudsman bill passed by our state legislature ASAP,” said Beverly Brown Ruggia, Financial Justice Organizer at New Jersey Citizen Action.

Participating in the rally were representatives from California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, the US Virgin Islands, Washington, and Wisconsin.

For more information or to arrange an interview with a spokesperson of:

Related Content

Student Loans