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."

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 budget of the Department of Education would further defund public education and would 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 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 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 then 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=32557%2E3130208%2EQ3VCp_Josh Nelson, Co-Director - 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."

Reported budget for the Department of Education: an all-out assault on America’s kids, teachers, college students, and student loan borrowers.

The reported budget for the Department of Education shows that President Trump and Secretory of Education Betsy Devos don't think that public education is important. They have cut billions of dollars from our already struggling school system and programs that help working parents get by! 

This budget proves that they don't want to give our children the opportunity for a better life through education. They have cut back Pell Grants and even work-study. I take that personally. My sisters and I would not have been able to attend college without Pell Grants, work-study, and student loans. Attending college broke the chain of poverty in our family.

In this time when so many young people are already struggling to pay back their college loans, the president and Devos want to charge MORE for student loans, have more penalties, and keep people in debt even longer. They are putting college out of reach for many young Americans. 

A solid education is a right for all Americans, not just for those who can afford it! 

Higher education is vital for a healthy economy. We need to be educating our young people to compete in the world market, not dooming them to a lifetime of unrewarding, underpaid jobs or unemployment. Colleges and universities provide good jobs. In addition to being huge employers, they create support jobs in the communities around them. Just drive by any college campus and see all the businesses that college students patronize.

In this video, Senator Elizabeth Warren shares the details of Trump's budget cuts in education.

"I just got a preview of the reported budget for the Department of Education that we expect from the Trump Administration tomorrow morning, and it’s an all-out assault on America’s kids, teachers, college students, and student loan borrowers. Here’s the bottom line: The Trump-Betsy DeVos education budget would push opportunity out of reach for countless young people, and we can’t let that happen. It’s time to fight back."

Yes! It's time to take a stand for education and a secure future for our children and America.

More on Trump's budget cuts.