美国国家公共电台 NPR Defeated In Court, Education Dept. To Cancel $150 Million Of Student Loan Debt

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Today the U.S. Department of Education is emailing about 15,000 people telling them their student loans are forgiven. And all the loans amount to $150 million. The reason for the forgiveness is in part due to a judge's order. NPR's Anya Kamenetz is following this story. Hi, Anya.

ANYA KAMENETZ, BYLINE¹: Hi, Ari.

SHAPIRO: I'm imagining people all over the country hearing me say that and rushing to check their email to see if their student loans have disappeared. Who are these lucky individuals?

KAMENETZ: Right. So we should take that down a note. So as during the Obama administration, as you may recall, there was a crackdown on for profit colleges. And two giant for-profit chains - Corinthian and ITT Tech - ultimately shut down, and tens of thousands of students were stranded². So the education department back then wrote a rule called borrower defense³. And that rules specified⁴ how students were supposed to get their money back if they were defrauded⁵ or if their schools shut down. And within that was a provision called automatic closed school discharge, which is just what it says on the label.

SHAPIRO: So basically students whose schools have closed are going to get their loans forgiven automatically?

KAMENETZ: Correct. So if your school closes down, and if you don't transfer your credits by enrolling⁶ anywhere else for at least three years, your loans are canceled. And any payments you've made will be refunded⁷. If your credit history took a whack⁸, that'll be wiped out. And this is supposed to happen, again, automatically - no application process and no delays.

SHAPIRO: That all sounds very easy, straightforward⁹ and simple. But I know that it was not quite as easy as that.

KAMENETZ: Well, you remember I said this was an Obama-era rule. And from the time that the education secretary Betsy DeVos took office in 2017, she sought to delay the implementation¹⁰ of this rule from ever coming into effect. She said it was onerous¹¹. It would cost taxpayers¹² too much money. But she lost in court. And she also missed a key deadline for replacing that rule. So now the department has announced that for these thousands of people - about half of them went to Corinthian Colleges - they're going to start returning their payments to them and canceling the remaining balances within about 90 days.

SHAPIRO: So the judge's order now requires the department to enforce this borrower defense rule. Does that mark the end of the story?

KAMENETZ: Well, I put that question to Aaron Ament of the National Student Legal Defense Network, one of the advocacy groups that's been suing the department to get them to enforce these rules. And Ament says not so fast. Here he is.

AARON AMENT: It seems prudent¹³ to hold off on celebrating until we know for sure every single borrower is getting the relief they're entitled to.

KAMENETZ: Every single borrower - so what Ament's referring to is back when the Obama administration wrote the rule automatic close school discharge, they estimated then about $300 million worth of loans were eligible¹⁴ to be canceled. That's twice as much as there will be today. And even more colleges closed since that. In fact, less than two weeks ago, we had another huge for-profit chain that collapsed¹⁵ - the Education Corporation of America.

SHAPIRO: So it sounds like there may be a lot more money involved - like 150 million more dollars.

KAMENETZ: At least - and that's just for closed school discharge alone. And that was - you know, we're talking about 15,000 students, maybe more than that. Overall, there are about a hundred thousand students who have claims that are pending¹⁶ under the general borrower defense. So maybe their colleges didn't shut down. Maybe they're still operating. But these are students who say they were grievously misled - predatory practices. And these claims of fraud are supposed to at least be heard and processed under this rule. And this is something that groups like National Student Legal Defense Network say that the administration is slow-walking those claims.

SHAPIRO: And is all of this about for-profit colleges?

KAMENETZ: About 98 percent of those claims, yes, are against for-profit colleges.

SHAPIRO: OK, so given that the defense - given that the Department of Education has been fighting against this so far, what do they plan to do next?

KAMENETZ: So there's these legal challenges. And they're still looking to rewrite this borrower defense rule for the future in ways that would make it much harder for students to get their loans forgiven in the future. But still, there are students who are getting their money back today. So I guess that's good news for today.

SHAPIRO: NPR's Anya Kamenetz, thank you.

KAMENETZ: Thanks, Ari.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。

5 defrauded   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He defrauded his employers of thousands of dollars. 他诈取了他的雇主一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He defrauded them of their money. 他骗走了他们的钱。 来自辞典例句

6 enrolling   

v.招收( enrol的现在分词 )；吸收；入学；加入；[亦作enrol]( enroll的现在分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They lashed out at the university enrolling system. 他们猛烈抨击大学的招生制度。 来自辞典例句
• You're enrolling in a country club, Billy. 你是注册加入乡村俱乐部了，比利。 来自辞典例句

7 refunded   

v.归还，退还( refund的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Postage costs will be refunded (to you). 邮费将退还（给你）。 来自辞典例句
• Yes, it will be refunded to you at the expiration of the lease. 是的，租约期满时，押金退回。 来自无师自通 校园英语会话

8 whack   

v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• He gave me a whack on the back to wake me up.他为把我弄醒，在我背上猛拍一下。

9 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

10 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

11 onerous   

adj.繁重的

参考例句：

• My household duties were not particularly onerous.我的家务活并不繁重。
• This obligation sometimes proves onerous.这一义务有时被证明是艰巨的。

12 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

13 prudent   

adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的

参考例句：

• A prudent traveller never disparages his own country.聪明的旅行者从不贬低自己的国家。
• You must school yourself to be modest and prudent.你要学会谦虚谨慎。

14 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

15 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

16 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。