Yesterday evening, the case against the U.S. Department of Education was finally settled. We’ve been covering the developments and now it would appear that Betsy DeVos loss her case. She is set to cancel out over $150 million worth of student loan debt. This money is specifically for students who were defrauded by for-profit schools that are now closed.
From the beginning of the Trump administration, it’s been obvious they weren’t interested in helping students. In fact, DeVos brought onto her team numerous CEOs who once worked for the very for-profit schools that were causing problems. From day one, she set out the cutback on Pres. Obama’s student loan debt policy.
The Obama administration created a program to help borrowers who were defrauded. The students were meant to obtain student loan forgiveness and have their debt removed. But DeVos had other plans. She thought this policy was unfair to taxpayers, as they would have to foot the bill for their college education.
DeVos had a different plan in mind. Rather than just blanket student loan forgiveness, the government would award benefits on a salary scale. The idea is to determine how much money a person is making from their degree. Would it be fair to taxpayers to pay for your education, especially if you’re making money from it?
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The Judge’s Ruling
It wasn’t long after DeVos attempted to cut Obama’s policy before states started stepping in. Her attempts to keep the slaw from being enacted was illegal. A federal judge ruled against her back in October. DeVos is now being forced to enforce Obama’s student loan debt protections. If a borrower was scammed by a for-profit school, they can have their loans discharged.
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Around 15,000 people are eligible to have their loans discharged, but they must follow the tenets of the program. They have to apply and show that they were scammed. Half of these borrowers went to Corinthian college, who filed for bankruptcy and closed in 2015. The process can take up to 90 days to complete. The Department of Education will begin to notify those with this type of student loan debt.
Those with Student Loan Debt and Lawmakers Still Not Happy
“This is a good first step, but it’s not good enough. … [DeVos should] abandon her attempts to rewrite the borrower defense rule to let for-profit colleges off the hook and instead fully implement the current rule and provide relief to more than 100,000 borrowers who were cheated out of their education and savings,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a member of the Senate Education Committee.
Despite these rulings, DeVos still has a fight on her hands. She still looking at creating a student loan debt policy that’s stricter on forgiveness. She continues to push the boundaries of the law. It looks likely that she will be investigated for her role in pulling back support for defrauded students. Protecting these students should be the government’s priority, but it’s not.
