EDUCATION/LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE/BETSY DEVOS: “A group of 19 state attorneys general are suing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for delaying an overhaul of rules to erase the federal student debt of borrowers defrauded by colleges…
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday [7-6-17], accuses the Education Department, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment, of violating federal law by halting updates to a regulation known as the borrower defense to repayment. The rule, which dates to the 1990s, wipes away federal loans for students whose colleges used illegal or deceptive tactics to get them to borrow money to attend. The Obama administration revised it last year to simplify the claims process and shift more of the cost of discharging loans onto schools.
Before the changes could take effect July 1, DeVos suspended them last month and said she would convene a new rulemaking committee to rewrite the borrower defense regulation, reviving a process that took nearly two years to complete. Proponents of the revised rule were livid that DeVos made a unilateral decision without soliciting or receiving input from stakeholders or the public.”
-Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, “Attorneys general sue DeVos over delay of rule to protect students from predatory colleges,” The Washington Post online, July 6, 2017 10:54am