Students Win Legal Action against US Education Department

 

Students defrauded¹ by for-profit colleges won an important legal victory on Tuesday.

A U.S. federal court ruled against a request to delay a policy from former President Barack Obama’s administration. The policy makes it easier for those students to get their student loans forgiven.

The policy is known as borrower defense², and was originally meant to go into effect in July 2017. But current Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said the rule made forgiving loans too easy and was unfair to taxpayers⁴. So, she blocked it while attempting to create a new policy in its place.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss⁵ decided⁶ that DeVos’ delay was unlawful. This week, he denied a request from an organization representing for-profit colleges to delay the rule even longer.

Julie Murray is an attorney with Public Citizen. She represents the students in the legal action against the Education Secretary.

“The rule is finally in effect,” Murray told the Associated Press. “No more excuses. No more delays.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Education Department spokeswoman Liz Hill said DeVos “respects the role of the court and accepts the court’s decision.” She added that the department will soon provide information about how the rule will take effect.

But DeVos continues to consider the rule to be “bad policy” and will continue writing a new rule “that protects both borrowers and taxpayers,” said Hill.

The court’s decision means the Obama rule on loan forgiveness could be in effect until July 2020. At that point, the new rule written by DeVos will come into effect.

Under the Obama rule, students whose school closed mid-program or shortly after completion, will become eligible⁷ for immediate⁸ loan relief. This will likely help former students of Corinthian Colleges, for example, a company which closed its entire school system overnight in 2015. The U.S. government had found evidence it was defrauding⁹ its students. And the following year, several court cases ruled that Corinthian owed millions of dollars to both its debtors¹⁰ and former students.

The Department of Education first created the rule governing borrower defense in 1994. Use of the rule was uncommon¹¹, until the Obama administration made changes to it in 2016, following the closing of Corinthian and other for-profit colleges. The application process for student loan relief became clearer and more developed.

The Century Foundation is a policy research organization. Experts with the progressive organization estimate that the court’s decision will affect tens of thousands of students at over 1,400 schools. The students will now be eligible for $400 million in immediate debt relief across the nation.

Other parts of the rule permit students to apply for loan relief as a group. It also prevents schools from forcing students to sign away their rights to take legal action against their program. And it makes sure that the schools have some financial responsibility to help relieve student loan debt if they close. That way it is not entirely¹² taxpayer³ money covering those costs.

Over 100,000 students say their schools have defrauded them. They are currently waiting for the Education Department to consider their applications for loan forgiveness. James Kvaal is the president of the Institute for College Access and Success. He said the department must immediately stop student debt collections and completely relieve loans of those borrowers whose schools have been shut down.

Toby Merrill is the director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard University. His organization also took part in the legal action against the Education Department. He said, “This is a major victory for students across this country in the ongoing¹³ battle against the Department of Education and the for-profit college industry.”

But Steve Gunderson described Judge Moss’s decision as “disappointing.” Gunderson is the president of Career Education Colleges and Universities, a group that supports the for-profit college industry.

“It will only create further confusion for students and schools,” he said. He also urged the Education Department to provide as much as assistance as possible while it finishes writing the new rule.

The California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools is the organization that requested further delays to loan relief policy, in addition to DeVos’s delays. The group did not return a request for comment from the Associated Press.

I’m Pete Musto. And I’m Dorothy Gundy.

Words in This Story

defraud(ed) – v. to trick or cheat someone or something in order to get money

originally – adv. when something first happened or began

attorney – n. a person whose job is to guide and assist people in matters relating to the law

eligible – adj. able to do or receive something

application – n. a formal and usually written request for something, such as a job, admission to a school, or a loan

progressive – adj. using or interested in new or modern ideas especially in politics and education

forcing – v. making someone do something that he or she does not want to do

sign away – p.v. to give something, such as rights or property, to someone by signing a document

disappointing – adj. not as good as expected by not being what was hoped for or expected

confusion – n. a situation in which people are uncertain about what to do or are unable to understand something clearly

1 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

2 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。

3 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

4 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。

5 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 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。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

9 defrauding   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Second is the actor regards defrauding of the wealth as object. 第二，行为人以骗取钱财为目的。 来自互联网
• Therefore, DELL has the motive and economic purpose of intentionally defrauding the Chinese consumers. 因此，戴尔公司存在故意欺诈中国消费者的动机和经济目的。 来自互联网

10 debtors   

n.债务人，借方( debtor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Never in a debtors' prison? 从没有因债务坐过牢么？ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

11 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

12 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

13 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。