STATEMENT: Select University of Phoenix Students Secure Borrower Defense Win with ED Discharge
“We trust the Department of Education will use this announcement as a starting point to relieve all University of Phoenix borrowers from their debts, and to stop feeding this for-profit company federal student loan dollars altogether.”
BOSTON – In another victory for defrauded former for-profit college students, today the U.S. Department of Education announced that it would approve nearly $37 million in borrower defense to repayment discharges for more than 1,200 students who enrolled at the University of Phoenix between Sept. 21, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2014, and applied for relief.
Statement from Eileen Connor, President and Director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending:
“Today’s discharges are a big win for 1,200 University of Phoenix borrowers who are finally seeing the Department of Education recognize the fraud perpetrated against them. PPSL has been fighting for borrower defense applicants for years and shares in the joy of their long-awaited relief. However, there are tens of thousands more former University of Phoenix students who are still waiting for justice after being lied to and scammed by this school, which is still open and operating with the support of federal funds. We trust the Department of Education will use this announcement as a starting point to relieve all University of Phoenix borrowers from their debts, and to stop feeding this for-profit company federal student loan dollars altogether.”
This announcement comes after students represented by the Project on Predatory Student Lending in the case Sweet v Cardona reached a settlement agreement with the Department to discharge at least $6 billion in student loans for approximately 200,000 individuals with pending borrower defense applications. Many of these borrowers attended the University of Phoenix and detailed the school’s long record of misconduct in their borrower defense applications.
About the Project on Predatory Student Lending
The Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL) is the leading legal organization representing student borrowers against predatory for-profit colleges and the policies that enable institutions to exploit and cheat students. PPSL uses bold, strategic litigation and advocacy to demand accountability in the higher education space and influence policy solutions to create a more just and affordable education system. PPSL represents more than one million student borrowers and its work has resulted in cancellation of more than $16 billion of fraudulent student loan debt.
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