{"id":9836,"date":"2017-08-25T02:33:52","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T02:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=9836"},"modified":"2017-08-26T02:36:55","modified_gmt":"2017-08-26T02:36:55","slug":"why-students-need-better-protection-from-loan-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-students-need-better-protection-from-loan-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Why students need better protection from loan fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Fossey<\/a>, University of Louisiana at Lafayette<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A college education can set you up for a lifetime \u2013 though it can come with a hefty price tag: Some unfortunate students have gotten both a mountain of debt and an education that falls far short of their expectations.<\/p>\n

Across the nation, a few for-profit colleges have been deceiving students<\/a> into taking out private loans that cost more than advertised. Others have made false claims<\/a> about job placement rates or have offered credits that don\u2019t transfer and \u2013 in some cases \u2013don\u2019t qualify students<\/a> for the licenses they need.<\/p>\n

Veterans<\/a> have been particularly targeted, with schools eyeing their GI benefits. And for-profit colleges generally attract a higher percentage of low-income students<\/a>, making these students targets as well.<\/p>\n

As a scholar of educational law and policy, I\u2019ve spent many years studying student loans and the debt crisis. What\u2019s clear is that students who have been victimized by fraud (particularly in the for-profit sector) need help when it comes to getting the justice they deserve.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n California Attorney General Kamala Harris successfully sued Corinthian Colleges for misrepresenting job placement rates and school programs to lure low-income state residents.<\/span>
\n AP Photo\/Eric Risberg<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Corinthian Colleges<\/h2>\n

Corinthian Colleges, a California-based for-profit that filed for bankruptcy<\/a> in 2015, is one of the prime culprits when it comes to student loan fraud. Last year, the California attorney general\u2019s office obtained a judgment<\/a> against Corinthian for more than a billion dollars after a judge ruled that the school had engaged in deceptive advertising and unlawful lending practices.<\/p>\n

Federal authorities have also challenged Corinthian. In 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau obtained a 40 percent reduction<\/a> in the private loans owed for tuition at Corinthian Colleges.<\/p>\n

More recently, the U.S. Department of Education discharged student loan debt<\/a> for over 27,000 students who enrolled in one of Corinthian\u2019s programs, and it has promised debt relief to 23,000 more former students seeking debt relief based on allegations of fraud.<\/p>\n

Student loan forgiveness<\/h2>\n
\n \"\"<\/a>
\n Many students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges are still weighed down by debt.<\/span>
\n AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, efforts by state and federal agencies haven\u2019t brought full relief to everyone who was defrauded. Of the approximately 3,400 for-profit educational institutions<\/a> in the U.S., at least 28 have undergone investigation<\/a>. Four of the eight largest companies have faced significant legal action<\/a> for unscrupulous recruiting or business practices.<\/p>\n

Corinthian alone has more than 350,000 former students<\/a>; and ITT Tech, another for-profit that filed for bankruptcy amid a cloud of fraud accusations, had more than 35,000 students<\/a> when it closed.<\/p>\n

Tens of thousands of students have filed claims with the U.S. Department of Education seeking relief from loans they took out to enroll in fraudulent institutions like Corinthian, but these claims haven\u2019t been processed expeditiously. In fact, the department has dragged its heels<\/a> since Education Secretary Betsy DeVos took over. Not a single loan relief application has been approved this year and the Department is reexamining<\/a> the rule that allows students to petition for debt relief.<\/p>\n

Legal loopholes<\/h2>\n

The student loan forgiveness rules are designed to expedite claims against fraudulent institutions. These rules are vital for students who haven\u2019t been able to successfully file their own lawsuits when they believe a college has defrauded them.<\/p>\n

Students have been trying to sue Corinthian, for example, over its deceptive conduct since at least 2006. But Corinthian, like many other for-profit schools<\/a>, used fine-print forced arbitration clauses in its student enrollment contracts to have such cases dismissed. Students are instead forced to bring their claims one by one before a private arbitrator \u2013 one agreed to by the school. Even if a student wins, the arbitrator has no power to change the school\u2019s future practices or address students in the same situation.<\/p>\n

Mandatory arbitration agreements are quite common in contracts for car loans and credit cards, but many believe they\u2019re fundamentally unfair in the education sector<\/a>, since such agreements force students to relinquish their right to sue for damages as a condition of enrollment.<\/p>\n

Yet, in 2013 (two years before Corinthian filed for bankruptcy), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an arbitration clause imposed on students at Corinthian Colleges was enforceable<\/a> and dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by students who claimed to have been injured by Corinthian\u2019s deceptive practices.<\/p>\n

Had the lawsuit \u2013 and others like it \u2013 been allowed to proceed in a public court, plaintiffs might have obtained judgments that would have forced Corinthian to change the way it recruited and served its students.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n ITT Technical Institute, a for-profit college that shuttered its campuses in 2016, included mandatory arbitration clauses in its student enrollment contracts.<\/span>
\n Dwight Burdette<\/a>, CC BY<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Help is on the way<\/h2>\n

Fortunately, some help is on the horizon \u2013 if Congress and Secretary DeVos don\u2019t block it. Last year, the Education Department enacted a rule to protect defrauded students. Under this rule, schools that take federal aid cannot use forced arbitration<\/a> to prevent students from pursuing fraud claims in court. But DeVos has delayed the rule<\/a> and is considering reversing it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although most for-profit colleges are opposed to a federal rule that bans mandatory arbitration, they are not unanimous. Apollo Education Group<\/a>, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, announced in 2016 that it would eliminate mandatory arbitration clauses in student-enrollment agreements. Greg Cappelli, Apollo\u2019s CEO, said at the time that the decision \u201cis the right choice for all of our students.\u201d The same month, DeVry University<\/a> also decided to eliminate mandatory arbitration clauses.<\/p>\n

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also just issued a new rule<\/a> that will restore the ability of students, service members<\/a> and other consumers to band together in court when banks, student lenders and other financial companies act illegally. The rule has widespread support, including from The Military Coalition<\/a>, 310 consumer and community groups<\/a> and over 250 law professors and academics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule will not just help students. It would have prevented Wells Fargo, which created up to 3.5 million fake accounts<\/a>, from using forced arbitration clauses to kick people out of court<\/a>, allowing the fraud to continue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n If the administration blocks the new rules, students will be in danger of losing their ability to have loans forgiven.<\/span>
\n jjinsf94115<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, Wall Street lobbyists are pushing Congress to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule<\/a> through legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives voted to do so in July, and it\u2019s now up to the Senate to decide the rule\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, for-profit schools continue to fight against the borrower defense rules that ban mandatory arbitration clauses. In fact, even some nonprofits<\/a>, including historically black colleges<\/a>, are requesting changes to other aspects rule, believing it could leave them vulnerable to the financial drain of frivolous lawsuits.<\/p>\n

\"TheStudents deserve the right to be protected from fraud \u2013 and to seek relief from the courts when they aren\u2019t. If left as they are, both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Education rules would protect that right.<\/p>\n

Richard Fossey<\/a>, Professor of Education, University of Louisiana at Lafayette<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Fossey, University of Louisiana at Lafayette A college education can set you up for a lifetime \u2013 though it can come with a hefty price tag: Some unfortunate students have gotten both a mountain of debt and an education that falls far short of their expectations. Across the nation, a few for-profit colleges have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":9837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292],"tags":[3001,3002,2999,687,1739,2998,3003,690,3000,1812,2336],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9836"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9836"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9838,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9836\/revisions\/9838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}