Tell Congress: Support the Students Not Profits Act 2019

The petition to Congress reads: "Support the Students Not Profits Act of 2019 to make sure for-profit colleges don't get federal aid to exploit and undereducate students." Add your name:

For-profit colleges lie to students and leave them deeply in debt. They have been repeatedly caught promising a great education and career success in order to suck tuition dollars out of students and taxpayers. Some for-profit college campuses have gone as far as bribing local temp agencies to hire graduates for a day or two in order to artificially inflate “job placement” rates.1 But despite their grifter status, these colleges receive 15% of the total U.S. financial aid each year – and a third of them get almost all their revenue from federal sources.2For-profit colleges lie to students and leave them deeply in debt. They have been repeatedly caught promising a great education and career success in order to suck tuition dollars out of students and taxpayers. Some for-profit college campuses have gone as far as bribing local temp agencies to hire graduates for a day or two in order to artificially inflate “job placement” rates.1 Progressive champions Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Sen. Sherrod Brown want to put a stop to that. They recently introduced a bill, the Students Not Profits Act of 2019, that would cut off federal aid from for-profit colleges. Can you help build momentum for the bill today? Tell Congress: Pass the Students Not Profits Act. Click here to sign the petition. This crisis is even worse with Betsy DeVos at the Department of Education. News recently broke that her department gave almost $11 million to unaccredited art schools in Illinois and Colorado.3 She spent the last three years sabotaging the Obama-era Student Aid Enforcement Unit, a move seemingly designed to help give scam artists and predatory for-profit schools a free pass.4 It should be no surprise that a billionaire champion of school privatization would be siding with greedy corporations over students. DeVos clearly doesn't care that for-profit schools are responsible for 34% of student loan defaults, despite only enrolling 9% of post-secondary students.5 She doesn't care that students are going into massive debt for little to no employment reward. She just wants to help her billionaire buddies line their pockets. Luckily, Rep. Jayapal and Sen. Brown are pushing back. Their bill would end subsidies to for-profit schools and ensure that taxpayers stop paying for the exploitation of so many of our neighbors, family members and friends. We need to build momentum for the bill now. Can you click the link below to add your name today? https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Students-Not-Profits?t=9&akid=34648%2E3130208%2E5xROoM - Heidi Hess, CREDO Action  Add your name: References: Alan Pyke, "The Inside Story Of How A For-Profit College Hoodwinked Students And Got Away With It," ThinkProgress, Feb. 28, 2015. Annie Nova, "Bill would make for-profit colleges ineligible for federal student loans," CNBC, Oct. 23, 2019. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, "Trump administration let nearly $11 million in student aid go to unaccredited for-profit colleges," The Washington Post, Oct. 22, 2019. Danielle Ivory, Erica L. Green and Steve Eder, "Education Department Unwinds Unit Investigating Fraud at For-Profits," The New York Times, May 13, 2018. Americans for Financial Reform, "News Release: The Students Not Profits Act will protect public dollars from abuses at for-profit colleges," Oct. 17, 2019.

Stop Betsy DeVos from sabotaging investigations

Petition to Congress: "Pass the Protecting Student Aid Act of 2019." Add your name:

In 2015, Corinthian Colleges collapsed and left deceived students stuck with debt but no degrees. In the wake of the scandal, the Obama administration created a new team within the Department of Education – the Student Aid Enforcement Unit – to police the billions in grants and loans administered each year. By the time Obama left office, the unit had a dozen attorneys and investigators working around the clock.1,2 Then Betsy DeVos happened. DeVos spent the last three years sabotaging the investigations unit to make sure scam artists and predatory for-profit schools get a free pass.3 Now, progressives in the House of Representatives have a plan to undo DeVos's damage and protect students, and they need our help. Stand with House progressives: Stop Betsy DeVos from sabotaging investigations. Click here to sign the petition. One of the main targets of the investigative team was . In 2016, DeVry settled with the Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission and agreed to pay $100 million in damages to the students it defrauded and deceived. When DeVos arrived on the scene, the investigations office was looking into a number of for-profit giants, including DeVry, for deceptive practices, claims about graduates getting jobs and misleading advertising.4 DeVos quickly sabotaged the investigations by reassigning and marginalizing staff, and instructing them to narrow their focus. Today, only three investigators remain, processing applications and engaging in small compliance inquiries. Worst of all, DeVos actually hired the former DeVry dean Julian Schmoke, to oversee the new, toothless investigation team.5 House progressives are fighting back. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Donna Shalala teamed up on the Protecting Student Aid Act of 2019, which would make the Student Aid Enforcement Unit official and give it the congressional mandate – along with staff and funding – it needs to do this necessary work.6 Students are nothing but dollar signs to Betsy DeVos and her for-profit college pals. We need tough action to confront her seemingly corrupt appeasement of the most predatory industries within higher education – and that means pointing out that progressives are leading the way. Stand with House progressives: Stop Betsy DeVos from sabotaging investigations. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/protecting-student-aid-devos?t=9&akid=34330%2E3130208%2E_Damcq Heidi Hess, CREDO Action Add your name: References: U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, "Murray, Senators Denounce Move By Secretary DeVos to End Investigations and Office Responsible for Protecting Students from Predatory Colleges," May 24, 2018. Danielle Ivory, Erica L. Green and Steve Eder, "Education Department Unwinds Unit Investigating Fraud at For-Profits," The New York Times, May 13, 2018. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, "Reps. Pressley, Shalala, and Tlaib introduce the Protecting Student Aid Act of 2019," Sep. 20, 2019.

Tell Betsy DeVos: Don't sell student loans to Wall Street

Petition to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos: "Stop exploring options for selling off federal student loans to exploitative private investors and instead immediately start discharging the debt of defrauded students." Add your name:

Leave it to Betsy DeVos to dream up more and more horrible ideas. The Department of Education under DeVos is an absolute trainwreck that rewards predatory debt collection companies and makes students suffer. Now, DeVos hired corporate consultants to help her make plans to sell student loans to exploitative Wall Street investors.1 Fraudulent universities and the defunding of higher education left millions of students and families suffering with mountains of debt, and giving banks more control would make it worse. If these plans meet with immediate resistance, it will get the attention of reporters and allies in Congress and may force the Department of Education to back down. Tell Betsy DeVos: Don't sell student loans to Wall Street. Click here to sign the petition. Betsy DeVos is a nightmare for the 45 million Americans stuck with $1.56 trillion in student loan debt. Her proposed Department of Education budget would further defund public education and drive students into the hands of for-profit institutions. The department lets the companies that collect federal student loan payments cheat and lie to students, according to a scathing inspector general report. She has issued rules to help debt collectors skirt aggressive state laws and has personal financial ties to shady debt collection firms. She is even taking the side of for-profit colleges and refusing to forgive the loans of the countless students these predatory institutions defrauded.2,3,4 Now, DeVos has hired Wall Street consultants to review the federal student loan portfolio and consider options for selling loans to private investors. One of the consultants, McKinsey & Company, even has ties to some of the world's most oppressive regimes. The federal government owns more than $1 trillion of the overall student loan debt in America and makes a profit from interest on the loans. DeVos is exploring options for selling that debt into the hands of private investors – who could abuse and harass people with loans, with far fewer legal constraints, until they pay every last cent.5 At best, DeVos is handing a fat contract to corporate consultants to duplicate the analysis of the student loan portfolio that government agencies already completed. At worst, she would hand over federal student loans to some of the shadiest hedge funds and banks on Wall Street. We need to raise the heat on DeVos to stop stalling on providing debt forgiveness to defrauded students while making plans to hand student debt to private bankers. Tell Betsy DeVos: Don't sell student loans to Wall Street. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Devos-sell-student-loans?t=9&akid=33039%2E3130208%2E-cIIp9 - Heidi Hess, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Michael Stratford, "DeVos hires consultants to examine student loan portfolio," POLITICO, May 2, 2019. Andy Kroll, "The Government’s Trillion-Dollar Student Loan Office Is a Train Wreck," Rolling Stone, Feb. 22, 2019. Mary Bottari, "Betsy DeVos Ethics Report Reveals Ties to Student Debt Collection Firm," PR Watch, Jan. 25, 2017. Erica Green, "Education Department Has Stalled on Debt Relief for Defrauded Students," The New York Times, April 5, 2019. Stratford, "DeVos hires consultants to examine student loan portfolio."

Submit a comment telling DeVos and the Department of Education to protect survivors' rights

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced new rules that will let schools get away with ignoring sexual assault and intimidate sexual assault survivors out of reporting.

Specifically, the rules will radically change Title IX, the civil rights law that ensures all genders have equal access to education. DeVos will allow schools to ignore sexual violence that happens off campus, where many assaults happen–even an assault at a party, for example, just a block away from campus. Not only that, DeVos will force survivors to be cross-examined by advisers or representatives of their abusers—an intentionally intimidating process that will prevent many survivors from reporting altogether.¹ 

But we can stop these changes from becoming official. Before these proposed rules can go into effect, the Department of Education must make them available for public comment and then address the concerns raised in the comments. If they don’t, they will face legal challenges to the new rules, or Congress could even intervene. 

We need an outpouring of comments to fight this rule. Can you submit your comment today? 

SUBMIT A COMMENT

Here are a few of the most dangerous changes in the rules. They will:⁴One in five women is sexually assaulted while in college or university.³  Devos' rules further rig the system for abusers.

1. Allow sexual assault survivors to be cross examined, possibly leading to more trauma or the survivor avoiding reporting at all. 
2. Allow schools to ignore sexual assault or harassment that happens at off campus bars or parties, or harassment that occurs online, even though the survivor may still see or have to interact with their abuser on campus.
3. Allow schools to only address the worst cases of sexual harassment and abuse, which would make survivors suffer through increasingly worse abuse before they can seek help from the school.
4. Limit survivors’ ability to get help by drastically limiting who students can report their assaults to. This will allow schools and universities to ignore reports of sexual harassment and assault made to the majority of employees trusted by students, such as support staff or Resident Assistants (RAs).
5. Totally exempt religiously affiliated schools from complying with Title IX requirements if they cite a specific "religious tenet," without notifying the Department of Education, leaving students in the dark about their rights until it's too late.

All told, these changes will put more students at risk and make it extremely difficult for survivors to report their abuse. Students of color, students with disabilities, low-income students, undocumented students, and LGBTQ students will especially suffer since they already face increased barriers to justice because of systemic racism, homophobia, ableism, the negative impact that sexual trauma has on one's grades, and the financial blow that results from possible legal battles with their attacker.

The Trump Administration and its allies have learned nothing from the groundswell of opposition to putting a rapist like Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court or the incredible advocacy of the #MeToo movement. They continue to support, empower, and protect abusers and rape apologists over the needs and rights of survivors at a time when survivors need more protection to safely pursue their education, not less.

Submit a comment to tell DeVos and the Department of Education to protect survivors' rights!

- the UltraViolet team

Sources:

1. Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance, Federal Register, accessed December 6, 2018

2. Tipped Workers Claim Victory Against “Tip-Stealing” Rule, The American Prospect, March 23, 2018

3. Statistics about Sexual Violence, National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2015

4. DeVos’ Proposed Changes to Title IX, Explained, National Women's Law Center, accessed December 7, 2018