Published: July 2021

It’s time for the Department of Education to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in higher education

Coalition: Student lending regulation

Groups wrote a joint letter to the Department of Education (ED) sharing their priorities for its negotiated rulemaking process that aim to protect student loan borrowers and taxpayers from waste, fraud and abuse. Advocates asked the ED to include substantial student and borrower representation among its negotiators, and to strengthen safeguards against predatory practices by for-profit institutions by reinstating strong borrower protection regulations, like the gainful employment and borrower defense rules.

The Department of Education (ED) began its negotiated rule-making process to consider regulation related to improving program integrity, oversight accountability and consumer protection for institutions of higher education that receive taxpayer-funded federal financial aid. Coalition members emphasized the need for the ED to improve consumer and taxpayer protections and address racial disparities, particularly among for-profit colleges. Groups called on the ED to re-design and implement an effective gainful employment rule; overhaul the disastrous 2019 borrower defense to repayment rule while creating an efficient and fair process that will help clear the backlog of claims from defrauded borrowers; and fix problems with income-driven repayment plans and the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Lead Organization

The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS)

Other Organizations

American Association of University Professors | American Association of University Women (AAUW) | American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees | American Federation of Teachers | Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund | Center for American Progress | Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) | Center for Public Interest Law, University of San Diego School of Law | Center for Responsible Lending | Clearinghouse on Women's Issues | Consumer Action | CWA Local 1081 | Education Reform Now | Feminist Majority Foundation | Generation Progress | Housing and Economic Rights Advocates | Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition | National Association for College Admission Counseling | National Association of Consumer Advocates | National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients) | New America's Higher Education Program | Project on Predatory Student Lending | Public Citizen | Public Counsel | Public Law Center | Service Employees International Union (SEIU) | Student Borrower Protection Center | Student Defense | Student Veterans of America | The Education Trust | The Institute for College Access & Success | UnidosUS | Veterans Education Success | Veterans for Common Sense | Young Invincibles | The Century Foundation | David Halperin, Attorney

More Information

Click here to read the letter in full.

For more information, please visit TICAS.

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