The Trump administration is delaying — and considering dismantling — two new rules that were a cornerstone of the Obama administration’s crackdown on predatory for-profit colleges.
The announcement by the Education Department on Wednesday throws into limbo changes that would speed up and expand a system for erasing the federal loan debt of student borrowers who were cheated by colleges that acted fraudulently. It also freezes the implementation of key parts of what is known as the gainful employment mandate, which cuts off loans to colleges if their graduates do not earn enough money to pay off their student debt.
The move came just over two weeks before the rules were to take effect on July 1. The agency said it would form new rule-making committees to study the regulations and would hold off on implementing them until the review was completed.
“Fraud, especially fraud committed by a school, is simply unacceptable,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in a statement. “Unfortunately, last year’s rule-making effort missed an opportunity to get it right. The result is a muddled process that’s unfair to students and schools, and puts taxpayers on the hook for significant costs.”
