Attorney General Becerra: Trump’s New Borrower Defense Rule Fails to Serve Students’ Interests

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today decried the Trump Administration’s gutting of the original Borrower Defense Rule, which provided a streamlined loan forgiveness process for students defrauded by their school: 

“The Borrower Defense Rule is meant to protect students, but Education Secretary Betsy DeVos now proposes a much weaker alternative that fails to support the interests of our sons and daughters,” said Attorney General Becerra. “These students were cheated out of a quality education that they deserve. The California Department of Justice will vigorously oppose this new proposed Rule.”

Attorney General Becerra has defended the Obama Administration’s iteration of the Borrower Defense Rule at every turn: 

• On July 6, 2017, he joined a coalition of 19 Attorneys General in filing a lawsuit against the Department of Education for unlawfully delaying the implementation of the Rule.
• On July 13, 2017, he joined a coalition of 21 Attorneys General in criticizing the Department for proposing a new rulemaking process to replace the Rule.
• On March 5, 2018, he led a coalition of 20 Attorneys General in submitting a letter to the Department opposing the proposals it offered during its rulemaking sessions to redraft regulations on borrower defense. 

The California Attorney General’s Office led the charge against California-based Corinthian Colleges for targeting low-income, vulnerable individuals through false advertisements that misrepresented job placement rates and the value of school programs. The Attorney General's Office obtained a $1.1 billion judgement against Corinthian on March 26, 2016, and worked with the Obama Administration to ensure that tens of thousands of former Corinthian students are entitled to federal student loan relief. Subsequently, the Attorney General's Office worked with the Department of Education as the primary negotiator representing the interests of state attorneys general to enact new regulations and improve the loan forgiveness process for students defrauded by their schools. This process ultimately led to the development of the Obama Administration’s Borrower Defense Rule.