Note: There is a lot to consider when your school closes! We held a webinar to help students understand their options on August 3, 2021. You can view a recording of the webinar here.   On July 28th, Center for Excellence and Higher Education (CEHE) schools (Independence University, Stevens-Henager College, CollegeAmerica, and California College San […]

Today, new U.S. Department of Education (the Department) regulations will go into effect, erasing many of the protections students had against school fraud. These regulatory changes could not have come at a worse time. As students are trying to weather the economic instability caused by the coronavirus, the Department has given predatory schools the green […]

On March 11, 2020, Congress passed a bipartisan resolution to preserve student loan borrower protections put in place in 2016 (often called the “borrower defense rule or rules”) and to overturn new rules from the current U.S. Department of Education (“the Department”) that would strip away those protections and make it nearly impossible for borrowers […]

By: Senya Merchant and Alex Elson of the National Student Legal Defense Network (Student Defense) This post originally appeared as an article on defendstudents.org and has been edited into a studentloanborrowerassistance.org blog post. Borrowers seeking further assistance may contact Student Defense at info@defendstudents.org.   Following lawsuits brought by former students of the Art Institute of Colorado, […]

Today, the U.S. Department of Education officially published new rules  stripping away protections put in place by the Obama administration in what is often called the “borrower defense rule.” As a result, students who were harmed by school misconduct or closures will have a harder time getting relief from their federal student loans or holding […]

By Margaret Mattes Tens of thousands of student borrowers unable to complete their educations at the approximately 1473 postsecondary schools or campuses that closed between November 2013 and November 2015 nationwide are now entitled to have their federal student loans immediately discharged—i.e., cancelled. As of October 16, 2018, the U.S. Department of Education is legally […]

This month, in a victory by and for student loan borrowers, a court ordered that the Department of Education had illegally delayed giving effect to an important rule from 2016 designed to protect student loan borrowers and taxpayers from school closures and misconduct.  The court’s order meant that the rule—often called the 2016 “Borrower Defense” […]

Advocates for student loan borrowers breathed a sigh of relief on March 30, when the deadline passed for Congress to introduce a resolution to roll back the new “borrower defense” rules.  These rules are designed to protect students and taxpayers from harm by predatory schools.  After rumblings from Washington that these rules would be in […]

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education announced final regulations to protect federal student loan borrowers and taxpayers against closures and misconduct by predatory schools like we saw with the now closed Corinthian Colleges. The regulations, most of which are scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2017, include significant amendments to the rules governing borrower defenses to […]

The rules around closed school discharges can be confusing—for students and for those trying to assist them—and good information can unfortunately be hard to find.  We have heard that a lot of incorrect information is circulating on message boards.  It’s important to know the facts before making a decision about transferring credits or applying for […]