Responding to this week’s quiet announcement by the Trump administration that they plan to roll back two Obama-era rules that help students repay their burdensome debt, Elizabeth Warren obliterated Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
In a series of tweets, Warren said her and the administration’s decision to reconsider the protections makes it more likely for students to be “cheated” and less likely for them to get out from under massive student loan debt.
Tweets:
.@usedgov Sec @BetsyDeVosED put bogus #4profit colleges ahead of students, vets & taxpayers by illegally delaying an Obama Admin rule.
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— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 15, 2017
Secretary DeVos made it easier & more profitable for schools to swindle students while keeping their fraud hidden from courts.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 15, 2017
And Secretary DeVos made it nearly impossible for student cheated by #4profit schools to ever get out from under their massive debt burdens.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 15, 2017
As The Hill noted today, the two rules being reworked by the administration are the borrower defense and gainful employment rules, which help protect students from shady lending behavior and assist them in finding jobs after college that allow them to pay off their debt.
As Warren said in a separate statement, the move by the Trump Department of Education would be an assault on the consumer protections of students.
“Students shouldn’t have the pause button hit on their consumer protections, and this isn’t the time for the Department of Education to step back from their responsibility to protect federal loan borrowers,” the Massachusetts senator said.
Reworking the rules in favor of for-profit institutions may benefit the moneyed interests that support this administration, but it’s certainly not helpful to millions of American students burdened with insurmountable debt.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
