The students of a for-profit college were promised student-loan relief. They are taking legal action because they are still waiting six years later.
Advocacy groups Student Defense, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the National Consumer Law Center sued the Education Department on Thursday on behalf of former Westwood College students. The students who attended Westwood should have qualified for borrower defense to repayment because they were accused of misrepresenting their employment prospects.
Many of the students have yet to receive the promised relief.
For nearly six years, across administrations, the Department has shirked its obligations, leaving countless borrowers in the dark about whether or not they will receive relief under federal law. It is beyond time they act on it.
The Education Department did not reply immediately.
The clearing of institutional loans, which are loans owed by the student to the school, was not addressed in the borrower defense application filed by the Illinois Attorney General. The Attorney General of Illinois sent a letter to the Education Department after the application was approved.
There is no more evidence that Westwood cheated students who attended its Illinois criminal justice program. These consumers are harmed by the student loan debt they carry and have a negative impact on their lives.
Corinthian College, ITT Tech, and even Marinello Schools of Beauty, which gave relief to borrowers who did not even submit an application, are examples of for-profit schools that have defrauded students. The department did approve some relief for former Westwood students in February, but the lawsuit states that the failure to act on the Illinois group application was unlawful.
The press release stated that Westwood students were disproportionately Black and Latino, and that failure to act on their borrower defense applications denied relief to communities of color who already face heightened levels of debt.
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