Washington, D.C. - During the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) asked Secretary DeVos to identify the last time the Department of Education approved a “borrower defense" claim to provide relief for students cheated or defrauded by predatory colleges, and predominantly by for-profit schools. Secretary DeVos was unable to answer, but data released by the Department yesterday shows it did not approve a single claim in the last three months of 2018. This delay continues despite numerous requests from Congress to provide relief, the agency’s own Inspector General urging DeVos to process the backlog of claims, and a federal court order in October to implement Obama-era rules meant to provide relief to students.
In response, Senator Murray released the following statement:
“In the more than two years since Secretary DeVos took office, claims by students who were cheated or defrauded by predatory for-profit colleges have been building up and now more than 150,000 students are waiting without answers, including many who are stuck paying back loans on a worthless or non-existent degree. There’s nothing stopping Secretary DeVos from providing relief to struggling borrowers today-including almost 5,000 from my home state of Washington-and she needs to begin approving claims immediately so students who were cheated out of their education and savings get the relief they are entitled to."
