By Katie Lobosco, CNN
June 24, 2021
Washington (CNN) The federal government has failed to collect more than $1 billion in fines and other money owed by colleges, most of which is owed by for-profit institutions, according to a report released Thursday by a non-profit advocacy group.
There are nearly 1,300 colleges that owe money to the Department of Education as of February, according to the National Student Legal Defense Network’s review of a series of documents it obtained over two years through Freedom of Information Act requests.
The group, founded by former Department of Education officials, asserts that the agency has failed for years to use all the tools it has to collect money from the colleges and their owners while requiring students to continue paying their debt.
“The Department of Education continues to spend time and money opposing struggling student borrowers while doing nothing to collect more than $1 billion owed to the government by colleges and for-profit companies,” said National Student Legal Defense Network vice president and chief counsel Dan Zibel, who oversaw higher education litigation matters for the Obama administration.
In a statement to CNN, Department of Education press secretary Kelly Leon said that the agency is “committed to improving our policies and practices to better hold institutions accountable for their actions and to provide borrowers with fair and streamlined access to the benefits to which they are entitled.”
The missing $1 billion
There are several reasons why these institutions owe money to the Department of Education, according to the report. Some are fined for misconduct. Others owe money for loan discharges that result from its closure or for defrauding students.
If a college shuts down or is found to mislead students with false claims about job placement rates, for example, it can be on the hook for paying back the debt instead of the borrower.
The Biden administration recently canceled $1.5 billion in loans for borrowers who attended the now-defunct ITT Tech and thousands more who were defrauded by other for-profit colleges, but President Joe Biden has resisted calls from fellow Democrats to cancel additional debt.
Photo: Family Growth Life
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