WASHINGTON D.C. – Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) released the following statement after Secretary of Education and long-time private-education advocate, Betsy DeVos announced that the Department of Education would be rolling back two important Obama-era regulations that protected students and held for-profit colleges accountable for fraudulent activity. The first regulation, known as gainful-employment, was instituted to prevent students from becoming victims of fraud or paying an exuberant amount for a degree without guarantees that their educational investment would pay off. The second regulation, called the borrower-defense-to-repayment, guaranteed that students who felt they had been defrauded would have legal options to have their student loans forgiven by the federal government and was scheduled to go into effect July 1st.

“We can now say without doubt that Secretary DeVos has never been, nor will ever be, an advocate for students when the forces of money-geared institutions are involved,” Rep. Grijalva said. “The latest announcement of rolling back two very important – and necessary – regulations that prevented for-profit institutions from abusing students comes as no surprise. The vulture mentality and over-selling of false promises that for-profit institutions use to prey and latch on to the aspirations of students must stop. We now face a crisis where students and families wronged by for-profit colleges have nowhere to turn and no legal process to voice their legitimate claims. It is frankly shameful that those seeking to better themselves through their education are hurt most by the profit-driven education industry. Instead of turning a blind eye to their fraudulent behavior, we should be making education more accessible, more affordable, and more enriching for our students.”