BURDEN OF PROOF

DeVos Wants Change to Defrauded Student Debt Relief Policy

The changes would ask those seeking relief to prove they are in “hopeless financial straits” or were defrauded by their school.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed to change Obama-era student loan debt relief for students of for-profit colleges by requiring them to show that “they have fallen into hopeless financial straits or prove that their colleges knowingly deceived them,” The New York Times reports. The proposal, set to go in force a year from now, will also require those seeking debt relief from for-profit institutions to provide the government with “drug test results, health concerns and performance evaluations” to prove their education had a negative impact on their job prospects. The Education Department claims the new rules would create a uniform set of standards for schools to abide by, and would save around $700 million a year. DeVos rolled back on the Obama policies one month before they were set to go in place, halting widespread debt forgiveness for defrauded students and new regulations that would have crack down on for-profit universities.