The Biden administration has pledged to make college more affordable. But it has chosen not to reinstate an Obama-era rule meant to prevent students from taking on too much debt to attend predatory for-profit colleges.
The rule was repealed by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who was later sued over the decision. The Biden administration asked a judge late last year to keep the repeal in place while it undertakes a monthslong process to write a new version.
It’s a move that has surprised some student loan borrower advocates.
“If the Biden administration is serious about protecting students, it makes no sense that they’re continuing to fight them in court,” said Aaron Ament, president of the National Student Legal Defense Network, which filed the lawsuit in 2020.
“They can help right now, all they have to do is stop defending Betsy DeVos’ illegal decisions,” added Ament, who previously served as an attorney for the US Department of Education under the Obama administration.
For-profit colleges have helped fuel America’s student debt problems. About 11% of for-profit college students default, compared with 7% of students who attend public colleges and about 5% who attend private, nonprofit colleges, according to the latest data from the Department of Education.
