Dive Summary:
- A student-advocacy group, The Institute for College Access & Success, is calling for a Department of Education investigation of several of the nation's largest for-profit college companies over what it says are questionable default "evasion" tactics being used to manipulate the companies' student-loan default rates and protect access to federal student aid.
- in a memorandum, the advocacy group cited tactics such as widespread "abuse" of deferments and forbearances as evidence that the companies are masking their former students' loan repayment problems.
- The memo also cites a recent two-year investigation of for-profit colleges by the U.S. Senate education committee that found only a quarter of the companies' former students were paying their loans.
From the article:
A student-advocacy group says several of the largest for-profit college companies are using questionable tactics to artificially manipulate their student-loan default rates to protect their continued access to federal student aid, and it has asked the Department of Education to step in to halt the practices. The Institute for College Access & Success says only a department investigation can determine whether the default "evasion" tactics that it says companies like Career Education Corporation, Corinthian Colleges, and ITT Educational Services appear to be using are illegal. ...