June 15, 2017

DeVos acts to protect colleges from students defrauded by them

KIRO - The Department of Education is freezing two rules designed to protect students.

The rules would have given former students at now-closed local colleges thousands of dollars in refunds.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson pressed education secretary Betsy DeVos for refunds for students when for-profit schools like Everest College were shut down 2 years ago.

But DeVos has instructed the Department of Education to halt the rules, closing the door for future claims.

They would have taken effect July 1.

The first rule required for-profit colleges to prove their degrees lead to gainful employment.

The second rule gave students defrauded by for-profit colleges a path towards loan forgiveness.

The Department of Education says they'll honor the 16,000 claims already filed. But that includes only some of the 6,000 Washingtonians affected by the closure Corinthian and Everest colleges in the state 2 years ago, after the colleges lied about job placement rates.

Groups representing for-profit colleges have sued to get the rules stopped, calling the debt loan forgiveness burdensome.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is her true role; she's the legbreaker for goons like Sally Mae (which unfortunately is no longer run by that gargoyle Albert Lord; he was a walking advertisement for why dealing with "Aunt Sally" was a bad idea). Betsy DeVos is little more than a racketeer for promoting school privatization and protecting the interests of the private college scam artists.

- Strelnikov