DeVos violated a court order to stop collecting on the debts of Corinthian College students. Now, they want her held in contempt. – The Washington Post
Despite a court order barring the Education Department from collecting on the federal student loans of former Corinthian College students, the agency continued to pursue the debts. Some former students of the defunct for-profit college had their paychecks garnished. Others had their tax refunds seized by the federal government.
Now, those students are demanding a federal judge hold Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt. A hearing is scheduled for Monday.
“Secretary DeVos continues to show that she thinks she and the Department of Education are above the law,” said Toby Merrill, director at the Project on Predatory Student Lending, a legal-aid group representing the students. “Let’s be clear about the facts: The department admitted that it blatantly violated a court order that we won.”
In a September court filing, the Education Department revealed that more than 16,000 former Corinthian students “were incorrectly informed at one time or another … that they had payments due on their federal student loans” after a federal judge put a hold on collections in May 2018.