SACRAMENTO (Legal Newsline) – California's attorney general is the latest to join a 20-state coalition of attorneys general criticizing the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for their proposal to change borrower defense regulations designed to protect defrauded students.
In a letter to the department, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the coalition of attorneys general argue the new rules would make it more difficult for students who were defrauded to obtain financial relief and give "unscrupulous and predatory schools unwarranted protection," according to a press release.
“Students pursuing higher education shouldn’t have to worry about being victimized by for-profit cons,” Becerra said in a statement. “The U.S. Department of Education is failing in its mission to foster educational excellence. Secretary DeVos’ proposed rules fly in the face of reason by prioritizing the protection of deceptive predators who use our educational system to scam and cheat students. These for-profit con artists strategically cheat and manipulate the most vulnerable of our college population: from first-generation college enrollees to single parents to military veterans.
"With these proposed rules, Secretary DeVos is systematically eliminating opportunities and resources for victims seeking help, while giving a helping hand to those who cheated the students," Becerra said.
The Department also faces a lawsuit from another coalition of attorneys general who claim the department has unlawfully delayed implementation of current borrower defense regulations, according to Becerra's office.