Great News for Veterans Cheated By Their School! “Borrower Defense” Applicants Get a Win in Court
November 23, 2020 For information: Call (202) 838-5050 Great news for veterans who were cheated or misled by their school! The U.S. Education Department has voluntarily agreed to stop denying "borrower defense" applications from students [...]
Military Times: Vet groups are blasting Trump’s education secretary. Here’s why.
Veterans’ education benefits are being undermined by the federal government, according to officials with two prominent advocacy organizations focused on student veterans.
Our New York Times op-ed: Betsy DeVos vs. Student Veterans
Our President Carrie Wofford authored an op-ed in the New York Times: "As the political makeup of the 116th Congress begins to congeal, the question of what, if anything, this divided government can do together [...]
Politico: Betsy DeVos’ Bet on Boot Camps
As Americans look to build the skills they need for the fast-changing job market, a new type of education provider has swept onto the scene: the coding boot camp, an intensive, short-term training program for [...]
Politico Morning Education: Veterans Education Success issued a new analysis today
Meanwhile, the group Veterans Education Success issued a new analysis today based on government data that found student veterans demonstrate stronger rates of persistence and completion of higher education goals compared with their non-veteran peers.
CAPPS v. DeVos & Bauer v. DeVos | DOCUMENTS
This brief is submitted by the National Consumer Law Center (“NCLC”) and by 17 legal aid and other non-profit organizations that work on behalf of students and student loan borrowers, consumers, low-income individuals, teachers, college [...]
The Washington Examiner: Don’t Lower Standards for Federally Subsidized For-Profit Colleges
Conservatives complained a lot about Barack Obama when he was president. But not everything he did was bad. One of the things Obama did that actually made a lot of sense was try to stop [...]
NYT Opinion: The Bane That is Betsy DeVos
Today let’s talk about the evil deeds of Betsy DeVos. We’ve been distracted, what with Omarosa and the Manafort trial and that $90 million military parade we were so looking forward to. At the same time, [...]
CNN: Betsy DeVos’ rollback of Obama’s for-profit college rules is almost complete
(CNN) Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is rolling back another Obama-era regulation that was meant to protect students from abusive practices by for-profit schools and colleges. On Friday, DeVos said she plans to fully repeal [...]
New York Times: DeVos Ends Obama-Era Safeguards Aimed at Abuses by For-Profit Colleges
WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos formally moved Friday to scrap a regulation that would have forced for-profit colleges to prove that the students they enroll are able to attain decent-paying jobs, the most drastic [...]
Press Release: Betsy DeVos Ignores Veterans on Gainful Employment
For Immediate Release: Contact: Carrie Wofford, (202) 838-5050 August 10, 2018 Betsy DeVos Ignores Veterans on Gainful Employment Education Department failed to consider veterans’ perspectives in gutting the Gainful Employment rule, which imposed accountability on [...]
Press Release: Ed Department Proposes Rules to Help Predatory Schools Instead of Veterans
DeVos’s Proposed Borrower Defense Rule Rewrites Epitaph For Predatory Schools Like Corinthian and ITT July 26, 2018 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Walter Ochinko, Research Director, who served as a Borrower Defense negotiator representing military and [...]
New York Times: Betsy DeVos Reinstated College Accreditor Over Staff Objections
WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos disregarded a scathing review by her own staff this spring when she reinstated the watchdog body that had accredited two scandal-scarred for-profit universities whose bankruptcies left tens of thousands [...]
NYT Opinion: Predatory Colleges, Freed to Fleece Students
Try as they might, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress cannot disguise that they continue to do the bidding of the for-profit college industry, which has saddled working-class students with crushing debt while providing [...]
New York Times: Education Department Unwinds Unit Investigating Fraud at For-Profits
WASHINGTON — Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and [...]
Military Times: Student Loan Forgiveness Benefit on the Chopping Block
A benefit that lets service members and other government workers write off student loan debt would vanish under a new proposal in Congress. Republican-backed legislation would eliminate a program that allows borrowers in full-time public [...]
The Hill: A Law Connection
One nonprofit on the platform is Veterans Education Success, which provides free legal services to veterans who were taken advantage of by predatory for-profit colleges. “When Betsy DeVos came into the Department of Education, they started to [...]
For Students Swindled by Predatory Colleges, Relief May Be Only Partial
Thousands of students who say they have been swindled by predatory for-profit universities will soon learn whether their loans will be forgiven by the Education Department, but under a new Trump administration policy, some students [...]
State Attorney Generals sue US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for withholding student loan debt relief to defrauded Corinthian students
SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education and its Secretary, Betsy DeVos, for refusing to process debt relief claims submitted by tens of thousands of students [...]
Reuters: U.S. Not Granting Loan Relief to Defrauded Students: Inspector General
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Education Department under President Donald Trump and Secretary Betsy DeVos has stopped cancelling the student-loan debt of people defrauded by failed for-profit schools and those borrowers face mounting interest and [...]
Military Times: What Will The Trump Era Mean for For-Profit Schools?
“It’s time for a regulatory reset.” With six words last June, Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s education secretary, ushered in a new era for schools that operate as businesses, putting a pause — and, some fear, [...]
The Economist: For-Profit Colleges in America Relaunch Themselves as Non-Profits: Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Education Secretary, May Not Be Able To Rescue Them
GOVERNMENT funds set aside for college aid have long been a favoured target for grifters. After the second world war, veterans flush on GI Bill funds would sign up for sham television-repair courses. After receiving [...]
Press Release: Veterans Education Success Releases New Report Showing 90/10 Loophole is Worse Than Previously Thought: Department of Education Data Shows Increased Targeting of Veterans and Servicemembers, Highlighting Urgency of Closing 90/10 Loophole
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 9, 2017 CONTACTS: Walter Ochinko, (202) 838-5050 Department of Education Data Shows Increased Targeting of Veterans and Servicemembers, Highlighting Urgency of Closing 90/10 Loophole Today, Veterans Education Success is [...]
Vox: How Betsy DeVos is Quietly Erasing Obama’s Education Legacy
US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos came into the Education Department with a bold vision: that parents should be able to send their kids to school wherever they wanted, by way of government-funded vouchers. Nine [...]
The Chronicle: To Lighten the Regulatory Load, Focus on For-Profits
Dear Secretary DeVos: From the testimony and interviews you have given, I gather that you believe strongly in providing taxpayer funds to colleges owned by for-profit companies. You believe that, relieved of the requirements and [...]
Loyola Phoenix: Unregulated Universities Make Profit off Their Students
We’ve all seen the commercials before — the ones with successful members of the workforce raving about their experience at their respective for-profit institutions: Kaplan University, DeVry University, Everest University, ITT Technical Institute and a [...]
GQ: Betsy DeVos Accused Students Who Were Defrauded by For-Profit Colleges of Wanting “Free Money”
Betsy DeVos must love negative attention. You see, usually the secretary of education, though an important position, isn't an incredibly public one. I mean, sure, we all knew Arne Duncan played basketball, and were aware [...]
The Denver Post: DeVos Should Keep Rules Targeting For-Profit Colleges
For-profit colleges have their place in higher education, but too many operators have proved to be incredibly bad actors over the years, making reasonable rules meant to protect students the smart play.
Student Loan Hero: Betsy DeVos’ Controversial Decision Could Make Kaplan University and The Art Institutes Nonprofit
Yesterday, BuzzFeed News reported Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the Department of Education have cleared the way for two for-profit institutions — Kaplan University and Education Management Corp (EDMC), the parent company of Argosy University, South University, [...]
The Nation: Betsy DeVos Is Helping Education Profiteers Rip Off Students
When Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was confirmed, the major fear was that she would radically overhaul the public-education system and institute a broad school-voucher program. It turns out that requires congressional action that hasn’t been [...]
Reveal: Trump Administration Seeks to Legalize Payoffs to VA Officials by For-Profit Schools
The Trump administration is seeking to waive a 50-year-old anti-corruption law that prevents officials who administer the GI Bill from accepting money from for-profit schools backed by taxpayer subsidies. The proposed regulation, published Thursday in the Federal Register, [...]
Washington Post: Ousted college accreditor wants another chance, but will DeVos agree?
The new leader of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, once one of the largest national accreditation agencies, wants the council to resume its role as the gatekeeper between colleges and billions of dollars [...]
Bloomberg News: Betsy DeVos Tells CFPB to Back Off on Student Loans: The Agency Has Survived the Trump Administration So Far; Will the Education Department Be the One to Kneecap It?
When federal policymakers killed banks’ ability to make government-backed student loans, David Bergeron should have been celebrating. A career official at the U.S. Department of Education, he had favored the move for years; it would save [...]
Huffington Post: DeVos’ Embrace of Predatory For-Profit Colleges is Breathtaking
Betsy DeVos, whose interest in education prior to the Trump administration seemed mostly focused on K-12 schools, has made her mark as Secretary of Education instead with a remarkably blatant embrace of the worst demands [...]
WV Gazette: Stop Delaying Loan Help for Defrauded Students
Not all colleges are created equal. Many are stalwarts of their community and churn out thousands of qualified graduates yearly. Others are on much shakier ground and end up crashing and burning, dragging lots of [...]
Forbes: How The White House Is Harming College Borrowers
For more than a generation, the GOP trope with a nod and a wink was "I'm here from Washington and I'm here to help." Yet sometimes, government policies do help Americans -- especially those with crippling college [...]
Buzzfeed: How The For-Profit College Art Institutes Found A Savior With Christian Roots
Last year, with one of the country’s largest college chains on the verge of collapse, a tiny nonprofit with roots in the Pentecostal Church came to the Obama Education Department with an idea. The Dream [...]
Media Matters: Newspapers reveal human costs of Betsy DeVos’ abandoning defrauded students
AP: DeVos has not approved a single application for debt relief from 65,000 defrauded students. The Associated Press reported July 26 that the Education Department, led by Secretary Betsy DeVos, has not approved a single application for [...]
Los Angeles Times: It’s Betsy DeVos’ Job to Protect Students From Predatory For-Profit Colleges. She Should Do It
Given Donald Trump's frequent campaign promises to wipe out "job killing" regulations on Day One, no one should be surprised that the Trump administration is going after federal safeguards that protect consumers at the expense [...]
Boston Globe: Fighting Back Against For-Profit Universities
When Stephano Del Rose enrolled in the New England Institute of Art in Brookline, he had bold dreams of a future in Web design and filmmaking. Lured by promises of cutting-edge digital equipment, internships, and [...]
Politico: 18 States Sue DeVos Over Delay of Student Loan Protections
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia filed suit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday over her delay of regulations meant to protect federal student loan borrowers defrauded by their schools. The lawsuit filed in Federal [...]
Dallas Morning News: For-Profit College Rules Get Reset by U.S. Department of Education, and It Starts in University Park
Last month, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos put the brakes on two Obama-era regulations designed to protect student borrowers at for-profit colleges, saying it was “time for a regulatory reset.” That reset started [...]
New York Times: DeVos is Discarding College Policies that New Evidence Shows Are Effective
In June, the secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, announced plans to dismantle a set of Obama-era policies devised to protect students and taxpayers from predatory for-profit colleges. Yet data released in the final days of [...]
State Attorneys General Call on DeVos to Address Borrower Defense Applications
A letter from state Attorneys General to Education Secretary Devos explaining concern over the slow-moving Ed. Department handling of reimbursing students.
USA Today: Loosening of For-Profit School Rules Worries Student Advocates
Concerned that for-profit schools that don't deliver on promises may come roaring back under President Trump, advocates for students, teachers and veterans urged Congress this week to refrain from rolling back regulations enforcing the industry.
New York Times: Betsy DeVos’s Hiring of For-Profit College Official Raises Impartiality Issues
As chief compliance officer for a corporate owner of for-profit colleges, Robert S. Eitel spent the past 18 months as a top lawyer for a company facing multiple government investigations, including one that ended with [...]