IG RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT LOAN FORGIVENESS: The inspector general’s warning came just several months before a judge ruled that the Trump administration violated federal privacy law by using the earnings data to determine how much debt relief to provide borrowers who were misled by Corinthian Colleges, the now-defunct for-profit college giant.
— DeVos announced in December 2017 that the Education Department would base the amount of loan forgiveness provided to defrauded Corinthian borrowers on a formula that relied on federal earnings data — a departure from the Obama administration, which recommended those borrowers receive full loan discharges.
— The plan was denounced by congressional Democrats as unfair to students and swiftly challenged in court where the Education Department has been ensnared in an ongoing legal battle more for than two years. But it wasn’t previously known that the department’s inspector general had also raised concerns.