Betsy DeVos plans to withdraw federal regulations adopted during the Obama administration to protect college students from predatory for-profit colleges.
“The Trump administration moved today to roll back two regulations designed to protect students against predatory for-profit colleges.
“In federal filings, the Education Department said it would renegotiate the federal “gainful employment” rule, which stops government money from flowing to for-profit colleges whose students take on too much debt, but earn little after they graduate. Years in the making — it went into effect in 2015 after surviving two lengthy court battles with the for-profit college industry — the regulation is arguably the most significant piece of President Obama’s higher education legacy.
“The department also said it would also delay the implementation of a second rule, widely known as “borrower defense to repayment,” which would allow students who said they had been defrauded by their schools to more easily have their federal loans forgiven. Those regulations — which were set to go into effect on July 1 — also included provisions to prevent colleges from forcing their students to sign away their right to sue.
“In a statement, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called the borrower defense rules “a muddled process that’s unfair to students and schools.”
“It’s time for a regulatory reset. It is the Department’s aim, and this Administration’s commitment, to protect students from predatory practices while also providing clear, fair and balanced rules for colleges and universities to follow,” she said.
“The move was quickly decried by Democrats and student advocates who fought for the regulations’ passage — frequently sparring with the Obama administration over whether they went far enough in penalizing for-profits.
“Today, Secretary DeVos chose for-profit colleges over students and taxpayers,” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said in a statement. “Her actions to eliminate important protections in higher education will harm students and waste millions in taxpayer dollars.”
Is it time to restart Trump University?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Of course she would. Since it’s a conflict of interest WTF don’t the feds stop her?
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It’s just sad. You wouldn’t believe how many fancy people lobby for these schools, though.
“A who’s who of Democratic lobbyists — including Richard A. Gephardt, the former House majority leader; John Breaux, the former Louisiana senator; and Tony Podesta, whose brother, John, ran Mr. Obama’s transition team — were hired to buttonhole officials.
And politically well-connected investors, including Donald E. Graham, chief executive of the Washington Post Company, which owns Kaplan, and John Sperling, founder of the University of Phoenix and a longtime friend of the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, made impassioned appeals.
In all, industry advocates met more than two dozen times with White House and Education Department officials, including senior officials like Education Secretary Arne Duncan, records show, even as Mr. Obama has vowed to reduce the “outsize” influence of lobbyists and special interests in Washington.”
They won. They delayed the rules so long now they’ll never go in.
I mean, seriously. How much money do these people need? They have to steal from 18 year olds? Donald Graham doesn’t have enough money? Richard Gephardt can’t find something more productive to do with his time?
I wish it were just DeVos and Trump but NO ONE has been able to regulate these places. This robbery has been going on for 2 decades and NO ONE in government seems to be able to stop it. They flat-out purchased our lawmakers.
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If government can’t regulate for-profit colleges (and they can’t) why do they think they can regulate for-profit charter schools?
Anyone know? Or is this another lesson we have to learn 50 times before it sinks in?
Full speed ahead on privatizing K-12! It’s going so well at the college level, right?
Do they ever learn ANYTHING?
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Well, if you know any young people you can warn them away. Obviously their elected officials have no interest in helping them. They’re on their own.
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The AG in MA is suing the Trump Administration over this.
State law enforcement can do a lot if Trump and DeVos block federal oversight. It’s a piecemeal solution and not ideal but now that the lobbyists have won a complete victory at the federal level at least states can patch up the void.
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Does “Relay Graduate School of Education ” fall into this category?
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Of course DeVos opposes any type of regulation as her family fortune comes from Amway, a predatory pyramid scheme. She believes the little people are prey for wealthy opportunists; it is the way of her world. I wonder what verse in The Bible can be used to justify such sleazy conduct?
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How long are Trump voters going to continue to be proud to have voted for an entitled member of the 1% who keeps proving that he cares more about his greedy capitalist con-artist cronies than the people they screw over? The team this guy is really on was always much more obvious to voters with better critical thinking skills than many of the “poorly educated” –who Trump loves so much– but at what point will his supporters realize their mistake and abandon the sinking ship they’re riding with him?
Then there are those who knew all along who Trump genuinely represents and voted for him anyways because they wanted to stick it to those they abhor. I don’t like to wish bad things on people, but I hope sizable numbers of Trump voters are struggling to pay back student loans and/or have kids in this predicament today, so they can realize why it’s never a good idea to vote for someone who is fundamentally against your own best interests. Whenever you give power to a vindictive hater, you run the risk of being one of the hated he decides to target.
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Trump is in office to lead the kleptocracy. He is making a lot more money with his new status. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/16/trump-businesses-have-millions-in-revenue/102932652/
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The good news is that, this past Wednesday, almost 200 Democratic lawmakers filed a lawsuit against Trump for violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution beginning the moment he swore to uphold the law of the land at his inauguration.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/6/15/white_house_for_sale_emoluments_corruption
The bad news is that, apparently, conservatives don’t have a problem with Trump thumbing his nose at the Constitution and making big bucks doing it. I’m guessing this is because they are really only fiscally conservative when it comes to helping the needy, or when they think the money is coming from their own wallets. Filling their wallets by virtually any means seems to be just fine though, as demonstrated by the conservative push for deregulation across the board, so that white collar criminals can flourish and profit with impunity.
Meanwhile conservatives are simultaneously fighting to maintain the “war on drugs” that has resulted in so many minority addicts being imprisoned for carrying and using (i.e., not being able to “just say no,”) and soon they aim to target states where marijuana has been legalized…
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I have a spreadsheet with the names of 548 schools, colleges, and universities that have been cited for administrative and fiscal irresponsibility regarding student loans as of March 1, 2017.
The list can be sorted by type of school, public, private non-profit, and proprietary, meaning for-profit and for-profit-foreign. https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/school/hcm
The institutions on this list get there by requesting more funds from USDE before they have paid out student loans, or for any of the following reasons:
— fails to submit the annual audit in a timely manner.
—fails to meet the financial ratio standards.
—is administratively incapable in fulfilling its obligation to follow Higher Education Act (HEA) Guidelines.
—fails to submit its annual HEA Title IV audit.
—fails to make R2T4 repayments (for student drop outs) in a timely manner or does not do the calculations correctly.
—fails to complete corrections from prior audits and/or program reviews
—excessive withdrawals above the 30% range.
—has excessive negative findings which fall under the “administratively capable” umbrella.
I looked at the institutions classified as proprietary schools (for-profit, often branded). I was aware that many for-profit schools of art and design had been closed for student loan issues. Thirty-four are still on this list.
Much more frequent are schools specializing in body care—massages, acupuncture; hair styling and barbering schools; hair, skin, and nail care; cosmetology, “beauty,” “beauty arts,” and “esthetics.” Quite a few schools offer training in the culinary arts, and in health services—medical, nursing, and dental technicians. Seven “business” and 12 “technology” schools are on the list of schools in trouble with student loans.
Within the proprietary category, thirty-five schools are located in foreign countries have US student loan problems. Twenty-three religious institutions are in financial trouble with student loans.
Other categories in this database suggest that “community colleges” have fewer problems than those with the title “technical college.” Over 100 “universities” are on the list, surpassed only by the 170 identified as a “school of” or “school for.”
The states with the largest number of proprietary (brand-name, for profit) schools having big problems with student loans for reasons of administrative competence, cash handling, and missing or improper audits: California (34), Texas (24), Florida (23), Pennsylvania (19), Illinois (17), Missouri (13) and New York (13). Many states have from five to eight of these schools.
DeVos and friends are preparing the way for even more fraud and administrative Incompetence in the student loan program and the students will be the losers.
She should not be posturing about caring for students.
She does not.
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Posted this article on my Facebook page. More BAD news for our kids. Students, beware!
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I was thinking the same thing as your last question about Trump U.
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