WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos announced a new discharge process for borrower defense to repayment (BDR) claims that will lead to only partial debt relief for students who have been defrauded by predatory for-profit colleges and universities. Under the Obama Administration, complete student loan forgiveness was granted.
“So let me get this straight: Secretary DeVos protects poor performing for-profit schools from being held accountable under the Gainful Employment Rule, but she's going to punish defrauded student borrowers? This is an outrage.
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“The Department has already approved full relief for thousands of students – granting partial relief going forward will only create more hardship for these student victims of fraud. I call on the Department to reverse this decision and continue providing full relief to these students.”
Following the collapse of for-profit giants Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute, thousands of students were left with a useless education and massive amounts of debt, leading many to apply to the federal government for relief from their student loans. Under the Borrower Defense to Repayment provision of the Higher Education Act, the Department of Education has the legal authority to provide defrauded students with complete, immediate, and automatic relief from their federal student loans.
