A month after new student debt forgiveness rules took effect, a new lawsuit is asking a federal judge to order the Department to Education to actually start helping scammed students.
Wednesday’s lawsuit is demanding implementation of the so-called “automatic provision” in federal regulations meant to help students left deeply in the red by now-collapsed for-profit colleges like Corinthian Colleges.
An Education Department representative told MarketWatch that officials are trying to find eligible borrowers.
The provision at issue says the Education Department will automatically relieve eligible borrowers from certain closed schools of their federal debt obligations if they didn’t re-enroll in another eligible school within three years. The eligible borrowers would also be reimbursed for the loan payments they already made, according to the provision.
But the provision, along with a larger set of Obama-era regulations, known as the 2016 Borrower Defense Rule, has been delayed under the Trump Administration and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. She’s previously explained the delays, saying the past administration “missed an opportunity to get it right” making for a “muddled process that’s unfair to students and schools.”
In September, a Washington D.C. District Court judge vacated the Education Department’s delay efforts.
Tens of thousands of borrowers are eligible, but many don’t know it
Last month, the “automatic provision” became effective — but the new lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California said Education Department officials haven’t been taking the necessary steps to make the intended relief a reality for “tens of thousands” of eligible borrowers, many unaware of their rights.
In its lawsuit, Housing and Economic Rights Advocates, a group that assists borrowers, said the Education Department’s alleged foot-dragging has hampered HERA’s “mission to assist clients and potential clients with issues surrounding student debt, especially those who have been victimized by predatory student lending practices at for-profit colleges.”
The indebted students caught up in school closures were usually “adults with limited economic means,” the suit says.
DeVos is ‘dragging her feet,’ says one borrower advocate
The automatic provision “is especially critical for these borrowers,” it continued. “Students who do not complete their educational programs are among the most likely to default on their student loans, leaving them worse off than before they enrolled: stuck with a continually increasing debt load, no diploma, and bleak career prospects.”
The borrowers eligible for the relief took out an estimated $250 million in federal loans, according to Sam Gilford, director of external affairs at the National Student Legal Defense Network, the attorneys on the case. Implementation means contacting the borrowers and credit agencies, as well as ending any loan collection efforts, Gilford noted.
Aaron Ament, the National Student Legal Defense Network’s president, said “Secretary DeVos is still dragging her feet and hurting tens of thousands of borrowers through her inaction. The students we are trying to help have been doubly victimized — first by the for-profit colleges that deceived them, and now by the federal government that refuses to help.”
But DOE says it’s ‘moving quickly’ to help borrowers
In a statement, Education Department Press Secretary Liz Hill said the department couldn’t comment on pending litigation. Nevertheless, she said officials were “moving quickly to implement the rule, starting with the borrowers who qualify for a closed school loan discharge under the 2016 regulations.”
Federal Student Aid, the student loan provider within the Education Department, was “working diligently to identify those borrowers who qualify for the closed school discharge and who are entitled to relief without filing a claim,” according to Hill.
The lawsuit comes as 44 million Americans are saddled with student loan debts. Their total debt load currently stands at a record $1.5 trillion.
A recent report showed how heavy the weight of student debt can be. A majority of participants in an October 2018 survey said they spend more on student loan bills than they do on necessities like food and health insurance.
Noah Zinner, managing attorney at Housing and Economic Rights Advocates, said the automatic relief was critical because many borrowers weren’t aware of their rights and options.
Zinner said the automatic relief would help his organization do its job, but the biggest boon would be for the many people who didn’t know to seek out help with their student loan debts.
“There’s no justification for withholding the relief,” Zinner said.
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