Growing up on a farm in Lunenburg, Jessica Jacobson dreamed of becoming the first in her family to go to college. She graduated from Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School in Fitchburg in 2002, and went on to get an associate degree in web design from Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner.

Morgan Marler had trouble finding a job when she graduated from ITT Tech with an associate's degree in information technology in 2016. "I'd get an interview, but after they saw my degree was from ITT Tech -- they didn't necessarily laugh at me -- but I could tell they held it against me," Marler, 29, told CNN this week.

After years working in “dead-end” jobs, Morgan Marler decided to pursue a degree that would help her start a career working with computers. In 2013, Marler enrolled at ITT Technical Institutes feeling convinced they’d help her land a job once she graduated. “They told me about the fact that they do career placement assistance for life,” she said.

When Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) questioned then nominee for Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos during a confirmation hearing in 2017, DeVos — often cited as the richest member of Donald Trump’s cabinet — seemed to have no personal experience with the federal student-loan application process. “Have you ever taken out a student loan from the federal government to help pay for college?” Warren asked DeVos, to which the billionaire replied, “I have not.”

Lawyers for student borrowers have filed myriad lawsuits against Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Secretary of Education. They've successfully argued that the Education Department should be required to carry out a 2016 borrower defense rule. And they managed to block a plan to offer partial loan cancellation to former Corinthian College students who previously were approved for debt relief. Now those lawyers are aiming to force the department's hand on a massive backlog of claims from borrowers who say they were misled by their colleges.

Alicia Davis feels like she was scammed. As a student at Florida Metropolitan University from 2006 to 2008, she said she was told the cost of her online criminal justice program would be covered by Pell grants and scholarships. She was told her credits could be transferred to other schools. Graduating from the school, a subsidiary of the for-profit Corinthian Colleges, would lead to a job and a decent wage.

More than 158,000 former students at predatory for-profit colleges sued Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her department on Tuesday, demanding that the Department of Education continue reviewing applications for federal loan relief. The former students had applied for “borrower defense,” which would allow them to have their federal loans canceled if their college misled them or violated state laws. But their applications have been left untouched.

Courts have sided repeatedly with student loan borrowers demanding the U.S. Education Department process their applications for debt relief, yet more than 180,000 people are still waiting for a decision. Now, some of them are again turning to the courts for help. On Tuesday, seven borrowers sued Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her agency after the department failed to take action on their applications, some of which have languished for years.

More than 150,000 former students of for-profit colleges filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday, claiming the agency is depriving them of the student debt relief to which they’re legally entitled.