During the Obama administration, Congress passed legislation to protect students who had been defrauded by for-profit colleges. In most cases, the “colleges” made claims about their success in placing their graduates in jobs. As a result of these misleading claims, thousands of students paid for a worthless degree. The Education Department attempted to help them get restitution. The Education Department was on the side of the victims of predatory colleges.
But times change, and now Betsy DeVos is in charge. In the past, she has invested in for-profit colleges. She has no sympathy for students who were defrauded. She thinks they are trying to get free money, and she has dragged her heels. Clearly she sides with for-profit colleges, not students.
A lawsuit was brought against the Department of Education for sending debt collectors to hound students who had been defrauded. The judge in the case, Judge Sallie Kim, fined the U.S. Department of Education $100,000 after ED admitted that it attempted to collect on debts owed by 16,000 students. For some unknown reason, the $100,000 was supposed to help those students, but each one would receive just a few dollars, maybe enough for a cup of coffee.
After the fine was imposed and DeVos was held in contempt of court, the Department announced that it had sent debt collectors to yet another 29,000 students (well, now that $100,000 fine amounts to about $2 for each defrauded student).
Despite the fine and the court order, the Department admitted that it continued to pursue students at late as last month.
Now Judge Kim must decide how to deal with the contemptuous, possibly criminal activities of the Department of Education.
In December, the Education Department revealed in a court filing that it identified another 29,000 people who were pursued for loan payments. The agency also informed attorneys for the students that it never fully ceased collections and went after at least 21 people for payments as recently as last month…
Attorneys for the Corinthian students have argued that the department’s continued violation of the order warrants harsher penalties. Hundreds of people lost wages or tax refunds because of the collection practice, while thousands of others were hit with negative marks on their credit reports. Some people who lost wages told attorneys that their utilities were cut off or they faced eviction.
The Education Department has collected more than $20 million from Corinthian students represented in the class-action case. It has yet to refund all of the money.
Money from the $100,000 fine was meant to provide redress for 16,000 borrowers, but because 45,000 people were affected, attorneys say far more compensation is needed….
The ongoing dispute stems from a class-action lawsuit filed in 2018 by the Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard University and the Housing and Economic Rights Advocates on behalf of Corinthian students. The groups alleged DeVos had illegally limited loan forgiveness due to students under a statute known as borrower defense to repayment.
Kim agreed the Trump administration violated privacy laws by using Social Security Administration data to calculate loan forgiveness. She banned the Education Department from using the earnings data to grant partial student debt relief to Corinthian students and halted collection on their loans.
DeVos has cited the ruling as the reason the department sat on nearly 300,000 borrower defense claims for more than a year. The department began clearing the backlog in December after updating its methodology with a sliding scale based on a borrower’s wages to determine loan forgiveness.
In other words, DeVos took the position that if the student was defrauded but was earning money, the student could not recover the money spent on a worthless degree.
The judge has the power to increase the fine the Department must pay, which means that we the taxpayers have to pay for DeVos’ efforts to protect the predatory colleges and persecute the defrauded students.
Peter Greene wrote about this controversy here.
G.F. Brandenburg wrote about it here.
Brandenburg says he hopes DeVos goes to jail.
Clearly the judge will not fine her personally.
The students should be paid back.
I agree with Brandenburg: DeVos should go to jail for her ruthless indifference to the plight of students who were defrauded and were supposed to be protected.
Americans better study “Our Constitution.” I doubt DeVos has read it and if she has, she doesn’t understand one word esp. these, “WE, the people…”
For DeVos and the rest of trump’s go-fers, the word “WE” means “WE the IMMORAL, GREEDY Thugs of the dump.” Bet they all have “dirt” on one another … and this dirt is so HUGE and VAST we would all be astonished.
Under the Obama administration] “The Education Department attempted to help them [students defrauded by colleges] get restitution. The Education Department was on the side of the victims of predatory colleges.”
I suppose it’s better late than never, but the Obama administration was actually a Johnny Come VERY (at the Last Minute) Lately when it comes to helping defrauded students.
https://www.thenation.com/article/will-obama-cancel-the-loan-debt-of-for-profit-college-victims/
In fact, the Obama admin effectively bailed out one of the chief perpetrators of the fraud — Corinthian Colleges — when it brokered a sale to ECMC knowing full well what was going on at Corinthian Colleges.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2014/12/01/why-is-the-u-s-helping-to-bail-out-a-for-profit-university/#a682db8b2006
Some members of the Obama administration retired, then purchased control of a big for-profit college that they had been regulating. I wrote about it here.
https://www.theleafchronicle.com/story/news/local/clarksville/2020/01/10/clarksville-teacher-suspended-over-facebook-comment-trump/4432679002/
The above address takes you to a website where it is reported that a teacher made an inappropriate comment in which he joked that a person should have shot a person who wore an imitation of trump rather than punched that person. This Facebook post caused protest in the community apparently. The teacher apologized and was docked a days pay.
I wonder how many Obama comments were made over the past years by the president himself that were more inappropriate than that one?
Do not expect the Federal government un Der trump to hold anyone responsible for corruption. Maybe someday.
Another factor is that many ex military hold these “fake” degrees/certificates and are unable to use them to find a job/career to support their families. The for profit colleges and trade schools sucked millions of dollars in GI benefit dollars and gave very little in return.
“For-Profit Colleges”
Junk degrees
And crushing debts
About as sleaz
Zee as it gets
Phoenix flies
Then turns to ash
But never dies
In hunt for cash
“Predator Loans”
Mortgages and student loans
Target folks with killer drones
Dropping bombs of heavy debt
Killing dreams for profit net
The for-profit colleges prey on low-income people, veterans, widows, etc.
a crucial understanding: it is always the MONEY which can be made which decides the action
GREED….. a 5 letter dirty word is worse than any 4 letter words that can be uttered.
I have often wondered if Betsy has her own set of Stephen Miller clones. CBK
Public officials rarely get personally fined for their illegal actions and even more rarely go to jail.
Only teachers and other proles go to jail.
“Rackets”
Racketeering was the charge
For teachers sent to jail
Racket clubs with full wet-bars
For Betsy’s sent to Vail
Betsys
DAM self correct
Sharon Robinson was on the board of Directors for Corinthian Colleges. Arguably all members of the board of the Corinthian Colleges before they were closed are also culpable and should be sued. All members of the Board were highly compensated.
Sharon Robinson is especially problematic because she had a prominent role in accrediting teacher education programs. She was not an amateur in education https://www.huffpost.com/entry/head-of-teachers-college_b_5078769
And
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/corinthian-colleges-names-dr-sharon-p-robinson-to-board-of-directors-114745669.html
Corrupt to the Corinthian
Corinthian was corrupt
Corrupt to very core
But end was NOT abrupt
Indebted many more
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2014/12/01/why-is-the-u-s-helping-to-bail-out-a-for-profit-university/#a682db8b2006
When Clinton was elected in 1992, Sharon Robinson succeeded me as Assistant Secretary for Education Research and Improvement at US ED.
She subsequently was president of AACTE. The org. of colleges of education.
By the way, Robert Knowling Jr, who was chosen by Joel Klein to lead his “NYC Leadership Academy” despite the lack of any education credentials, is now on the well compensated board of K12 Inc, which reached a revenue this year of $1 billion selling online “education” with horrible results.
“DeVos should go to jail for her ruthless indifference to the plight of students who were defrauded and were supposed to be protected.”
Not only for her indifference, but for her contempt for the judge’s ruling, and so for the rule of law, at least as applied to her.
Talk about “taking her eye off the ball,” which of course is the education of “the people.” Apparently, for Betsy, borrowing money to get an education equates to trying to get something for nothing. Devos is the poster child for the saying: “Riches do not intelligence make.”
So many of the super-rich USED to try to keep their contempt for the poor, and for the rule of law, hidden just under the surface. (Remember secretly-recorded Mitt?) Now, they brag about both. CBK
Betsy has gotten something for nothing for her entire life.
Her wealth is the something and she is the nothing.
Something for Nothing
Something for nothing
Life of The Bets
One thing is sure thing:
Rich as it gets
These wealthy opportunists have contempt for the poor, but they also believe it is acceptable to exploit them. It is unfortunate that some Democrats believe this practice is OK.
retired teacher A teacher once told me that, if you scratch the surface of most any American, you will find that, to them, and even if they are unaware of it, the law is for everyone else, but not for them. I thought that comment rather prescient then . . . . CBK
Most people understand that the law is for them because when they violate it, they suffer consequences and even fairly minor traffic fines are enough to make most people change their behavior.
But the wealthy have the money to effectively exempt them from all but the most serious of crimes (and even the latter in some cases if they can hire a good enough team of lawyers)
If the Department of Education is fined millions of dollars, we all pay for her contempt.
The only punishment that will make a difference for her is if it affects her personally. Perhaps the fine should be calculated based on her net worth, as she is using personal income information about students to decide whether or how much to reimburse them. Her fine might be $1 billion, for example.
Or jail time.
I think her fine should be teaching for 1 month in an inner city school.
After a single day, she’d probably beg the judge for 5 years in solitary confinement.
People have been jailed for contempt of court, and in this case, DeVos’s indifference to the court order is indeed contemptuous of the rule of law and the court.
Most people would be jailed for contempt for even showing minor disrespect for a a judge who ruled on their case.
It is simply ot possible to be MORE disrespectful to a judge than to completely disregard the judge’s order.
Man, the arrogance of this woman….
I think it’s spelled heirogance in Betsy’s case
SomeDAM Proving again that there is no cause-and-effect relationship between good luck and good people. In fact, sometimes, wealth paves the way for a long-term neglect of what is truly spiritual and good about us. CBK
Right, SomeDAM! How did I miss that!
marks In either case, Betsy is a walking abstraction of what it means to be fully human. CBK
The only way to punish Lawless Betsy the Beast is the throw her in a prison cell for as long as the law allows and only to Ricker’s Island.
I suggest the “Martha Stewart Suite”
How about prosecution for Sharon Robinson & those lawless & heartless K12 owners & board members, in addition to DeVos? These rotten-to-the core people should be forced to give claw-backs by the justice system. The FCC should prohibit K12 from tv & radio ads, often on at ung-dly hrs. of the night (esp. tv, targeting what they’d figure to be a vulnerable audience, selling their drech to parents & guardians).
Oh, but Michael Milken (or however his name is spelled) learned his lesson in jail, & has been a great benefactor. Yeah…to himself & his families.
No–he just changed from one scam to the other. & I think he dumped the business to escape any future justice, but not before he made $$$$ on the backs of children.
& thanks to the Obama Administration for not doing what we voted for: repeal of NCLB & a better education for all.
Enjoy your new $11.75 million Martha’s Vineyard mansion, all your other million dollar real estate & your “sterling” reputation (yeah, as compared to 45). Oh–& all the advantages given to your children in the face of those you had stolen from “other people’s children.”
It’s all about civil rights — the Obamas’ rights to cash in on the Presidency. Just like the Bushes and the Clintons did. And Bill Clinton was also just exercising HIS civil rights, since he was actually our very first Black President, right?
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
Probably not. She’ll buy someone off and it will go away.