LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a multistate amicus brief supporting a lawsuit challenging action taken by the Department of Education that repealed and replaced federal “borrower defense” regulations.
The lawsuit, filed by the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), argues that Trump administration’s 2019 Borrower Defense Rule is “arbitrary and capricious and must be stricken.”
The amicus brief supports NYLAG’s argument that by rescinding and replacing a 2016 borrower defense rule, the Department of Education “relied on inaccurate, unsupported, and inconsistent assumptions, among other arguments.”
"It is absolutely critical that student borrowers are protected against unfair practices,” Nessel said. “Stripping away these protections makes it nearly impossible for students to get the relief they’re owed in instances where predatory for-profit institutions exploit their interest in higher education. My colleagues and I are fighting to ensure missteps taken under the previous administration are overturned.”
The 2016 borrower defense rule established a borrower defense process for student loan debt relief that strengthened protections for student borrowers who were defrauded by predatory for-profit colleges. The Department of Education rescinded those regulations in 2019 and replaced them with new rules.
“Borrower defense” is the process by which students can seek relief from their federal student loans when they have been defrauded by their school, Nessel explained Thursday in a press release.
Joining Attorney General Nessel in filing the brief are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
You can read a copy of the brief below to learn more.
Multistate Amicus Brief challenging Dept. of Education's borrower defense rule by WXMI on Scribd
