Student borrowers are keeping the pressure up in 2022 | Blog

In just three months of 2022, we’ve seen notable progress in the fight towards holding predatory for-profit colleges and those who enable them accountable. From a scathing report detailing ITT’s decades of wrongdoing, to students in Sweet v. Cardona calling out the growing borrower defense backlog, borrowers are not letting up and keeping the pressure on the Education Department’s arbitrarily long and winding road to justice.Proof of ITT’s Massive-Scale Fraud and Abuse

• The Department of Education has all the evidence it needs to cancel all ITT debt – not just a small portion. Last month, we released a report detailing the massive scale of fraud and abuse by the defunct for-profit college, with over 200 pages of evidence showing how the company systematically and brazenly lied to students in order to profit from their federal financial aid. The report was sent directly to Secretary Cardona, read the letter here.
• NPR called it “an exhaustive deep dive into ITT Tech's fraudulent practice.” Forbes states that the report “highlights [the] need to protect student loan borrowers with stronger regulation of for-profit colleges”.
• Beyond just proof that ITT’s abuse was widespread, this report shows what is at stake if predatory schools are not held accountable. The Department has an obligation to right these wrongs and we’re calling on Secretary Cardona to cancel all ITT loans.
• Watch as Project Director Eileen Connor walks through some of the highlights of the report.

Biden Administration’s Borrower Defense Backlog Grows

• On the same day as the release of our ITT report, the Department of Education announced it would cancel $415 million in federal student loans for approximately 16,000 borrowers. While at first glance this may sound significant, these cancellations only account for just 6% of unresolved borrower defense claims. This arbitrary approach ignores the hundreds of thousands of student borrowerswho are equally owed debt cancellation.
• Much of the announcement coverage puts this into context, including our ITT report and calling out President Biden’s ongoing – and growing – borrower defense backlog:
  • Washington Post: DeVry, ITT Tech students among thousands of defrauded borrowers to receive $415 million in loan cancellation
  • : Department of Education to cancel $415 million in student loan debt
  • US News: Feds Forgive Loans of Thousands More Defrauded StudentBorrowers
• A week after the announcement, student borrowers in Sweet v. DeVos submitteda new filing regarding the Department’s ongoing delays in processing borrower defense claims. Several borrowers have written directly to Judge Alsup in recent months expressing their frustration with delays and seeking answers, as they have received none from the Department of Education.

Navient Settlement is Too Good to Be True

• In February, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, joined by a coalition of 38 attorneys general, announced a settlement with private student loan lender Navient, providing relief totaling $1.85 billion to resolve allegations of widespread unfair and deceptive student loan servicing practices and abuses in originating predatory student loans.
• However, the details of the settlement reveal that only about 66,000 borrowerswho have defaulted on their loans are getting relief and the borrowers who have sacrificed their well-being to make their payments on time have to keep doing so. Learn more about what this settlement actually means for borrowers in this New York Times article: The $1.7 Billion Student Loan Deal That Was Too Good to Be True.
• In March, Project members hosted a webinar with over 100 borrowers to answer questions about the Navient settlement, gather information, and consider additional action.

Borrowers Continue to Speak Up During Negotiated Rulemaking

• Defrauded for-profit college students continue to show up and demand accountability at the Department of Education’s Negotiated Rulemaking sessions. Several of our clients joined the public comment periods to share their for-profit college experiences. One common theme this past session: the lack of gainful employment for for-profit graduates.
• Sergio Solorza shared his University of Phoenix experience and called for the Department to act now to right the wrongs he’s endured. When students couldn’t get into the sessions, we made sure their stories were still heard in front of the committee.
• Eileen Connor gave public comment, warning the committee of the perils of weak regulations and lack of enforcement. Watch the video here.