[Washington]—On June 9, thirty-one organizations representing our nation’s active duty service members, veterans, survivors, and military families wrote to Congress and the Education Department demanding immediate implementation, with no weakening, of the Borrower Defense rule, and stating that “any delay is an affront to defrauded service members, veterans, survivors, and military families.” Today, the Education Department announced that it is delaying implementation and rewriting that rule, leaving thousands of defrauded veterans without financial relief from federal student loans.
It has been widely documented that service members, veterans, and their dependents, families and survivors are targeted for fraud because of the 90/10 loophole. Predatory college recruiters not only use misleading advertising and recruiting to enroll veterans, but also sign them up for student loans, sometimes without the veterans’ knowledge.
Defrauded veterans not only deserve the loan forgiveness they are entitled to under Borrower Defense but also the protections provided by the Gainful Employment rule, which the Department also announced it planned to renegotiate. In February 2017, sixteen veterans and military service organizations wrote to Congress urging that the Gainful Employment rule but fully implemented as written.
While today’s announcement by the Education Department is good news for predatory colleges, it is terrible news for America’s servicemembers, veterans, and their families who honorably served the nation, and to the taxpayers who fund their GI Bill educational benefits.