Schools

Senate Dems: Students Deserve Immediate Debt Relief After Attending Schools Engaged in Deceptive & Predatory Practices


In New Letter, Wyden, Merkley, and 33 Senate Democrats Push For Automatic Relief to Students Who Have Been Victims Of Predatory Practices, Like Corinthian Colleges

Washington, D.C. –-(ENEWSPF)–March 10, 2016.  Yesterday, Oregon’s U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, along with Senators Patty Murray, D-Wash., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., and 29 Senate Democrats sent a letter to President Obama urging the administration to protect students who attended colleges or universities that engaged in unlawful, unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices.

In 2015, Corinthian Colleges filed for bankruptcy and shut down all of its locations after facing charges that it had systematically deceived students and engaged in unlawful practices.

“These schools have put their pursuit of federal student loan dollars ahead of the best interests of their students, and their abuses undermine the vision you have laid out for higher education in America,” the senators wrote in the letter. “When colleges break the rules, student loan borrowers should not be left to dig themselves out from under a mountain of debt they cannot repay. We are writing to urge you to provide fair and equitable debt relief to the victims of these violations.”

The U.S. Department of Education recently released a proposal for allowing students, like those who attended Corinthian Colleges or any other school that has engaged in similar practices, to clear their student debt.

In their letter, the senators expressed concern that the department’s proposal does not adequately ensure a fair process for these students. The senators seek further action from the department in several areas:

  • A streamlining of the rules to treat groups of students the same,
  • Cracking down on the use of forced arbitration agreements that help hide these practices, and
  • Reversing a proposed statute of limitations on a borrowers’ ability to receive debt relief.

The list of Senators signing the letter includes: Senators Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Ben Cardin, D-Md., Tom Carper, D-Del., Bob Casey, D-Penn., Chris Coons, D-Del., Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Al Franken, D-Minn., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Harry Reid, D-Nev., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Tom Udall, D-N.M., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Full text of the letter

Source: http://www.wyden.senate.gov


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