SL Account Management on Obama-era Borrower Defense Policy Finally In Effect

A judge appointed under the Obama administration has denied the request of the group representing for-profit colleges in California to postpone the borrower defense rule. This ruling comes a month after he ruled that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ delay in the implementation of the Obama-era policy was unlawful.

Accordingly, the decision by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss will benefit a considerable number of individuals coming from 1,400 schools and universities. The automatic debt relief across the United States involves around $400 million.

The policy provides that students whose school closed mid-program will be able to apply for automatic loan discharge. These students will also be eligible to apply for loan discharge as a group. However, those who opt to continue their education at another school will not be eligible under the loan forgiveness regulation.

Other salient provisions of the policy include the prevention of educational institutions from compelling their students to waive their rights to file a case against the program. It will also ensure that the schools, and not the taxpayers, will shoulder the financial responsibility when the schools end up ceasing its operations.

Huge Win for the Public

Julie Murray, an attorney who represents the two students in the litigation, claimed that the decision by Moss is a big win for the “defrauded borrowers” across the nation.

She acknowledged that there will be a continuing effort from the industry to challenge the court ruling but she promised that she and her colleagues will also continue to work against the corporate interests as well as the “administration beholden to them.”

Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard University, which is also part of the lawsuit, said through its director Toby Merrill that the decision is a major victory in their existing battle against the for-profit college industry and the Department of Education.

At present, more than 100,000 students are waiting for the Education Department to act on their application for forgiveness.

Not that Beneficial?

The ruling may have scored a win for the defrauded students as it offers automatic relief but not everyone is thrilled with the ruling.

There are conservative groups who are at odds with the policy fearing that the taxpayers will shoulder the burden in the implementation of the regulation. After all, public money will be involved when there is student loan forgiveness.

This is also the kind of policy that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is pushing. DeVos, who has frozen the Obama-era regulation, is seeking for its enhancement to create a win-win situation for everyone.

Among the secretary’s proposal is not to provide an automatic student loan forgiveness as certain condition should be met first before one becomes eligible. Among her proposal is to compel individuals to pay for their student loans in case they were still enrolled when their educational institution has shut down. SL Accoutn Management Indeed has been there the whole time helping students despite the political climate. The’ve been hiring for new Jobs on Linkedin and SL Account Management Contact information can be found here.

But the spokeswoman for the Education Department, Liz Hill, said that DeVos will not be seeking any further delay in the implementation of the policy. She further stated that DeVos respects and accepts the decision of the court and companies like SL Account Management in Irvine, California are right there helping students and recent graduates to see how they can assist in fixing their debt issues that was seen as a crisis that is finally being fixed.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes