FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2021
Contact: Juan Ramiro Sarmiento
(785) 760-6567 | juan.sarmiento@younginvincibles.org

Statement on Education Department Rescinding Partial Relief Policy

(Washington, DC) — Today, the U.S. Department of Education rescinded its second partial relief policy, a holdover from the previous administration’s misguided and harmful policies affecting student borrowers who filed claims for relief under federal borrower defense to repayment protections. This decision should provide $1 billion in debt relief to which federal law entitles more than 70,000 defrauded student borrowers, primarily those affected by the fraud of Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute.

In response, Kyle Southern, Policy and Advocacy Director for Higher Education and Workforce for Young Invincibles released the following statement:

“We welcome this decision by the Education Department (ED) and look forward to continuing our advocacy to make whole borrowers defrauded by some of the worst actors in higher education for predatory and fraudulent practices. Today’s decision will bring long-overdue relief to tens of thousands of borrowers. It should also be a first step in the larger effort toward overhauling the federal government’s approach to borrower defense in a way that centers the interests of students and borrowers–not predatory institutions that see them as dollar signs and leave them with credentials of little to no value in the workforce.

We thank officials at ED for their swift attention to rescinding the partial relief formula that has already done damage to many defrauded borrowers, as well as the many advocates for defrauded borrowers who for years have worked to ensure they receive the full debt relief they deserve. Although this action does not replace the harmful borrower defense rule opposed by bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress last year that was left in place only by presidential veto, it is a promising sign that stronger protections for borrowers–and stronger accountability for colleges that would defraud them–are on the way.”