The U.S. Department of Education told a federal court last week that it has denied nearly all applications for loan forgiveness submitted by student loan borrowers who claim they were defrauded by their schools.
The latest filing in the ongoing Sweet v. DeVos lawsuit concerns the troubled Borrower Defense to Repayment program. The Obama administration had previously enacted regulations in 2016 governing the program, which was established to provide student debt relief to students who were misled, defrauded, or otherwise harmed by predatory colleges and universities – often, for-profit schools.
Under Secretary Betsy DeVos, however, the Department of Education has been trying to rewrite the rules governing the Borrower Defense program. New rules that went into effect on July 1 of this year substantially weaken the Borrower Defense relief provided to student loan borrowers by increasing the burden of proof required to prevail, and imposing a strict statute of limitations.