Statement on Department of Education Plan for Partial Relief to Defrauded Students

Kelly McManus, Arnold Ventures’ Director of Higher Education, issued the following statement on the Department of Education’s plan to provide only partial relief to defrauded students:

Over the course of the past almost three years, we have become used to the Department of Education shirking its duty to protect students in favor of predatory institutions. The announcement of a new scheme for only partial relief for defrauded Corinthian and ITT Tech students is yet another stunning abdication of responsibility. 

Every part of this situation shows the need for a more robust accountability system that protects students and taxpayers. Corinthian and ITT Tech should have never been able to defraud students and take in federal dollars for as long as they did, and the Department should not be trying to short-shrift the students it failed to protect. We sincerely hope the Department reconsiders its approach and instead fulfills its responsibility to students, but even more importantly, we need Congress to act and pass a strong Higher Education Act that prevents this situation in the first place.