Last month, a group of for-profit colleges sued the Department of Education over the defense to repayment (DTR) regulations we fought hard for. Obviously the Betsy DeVos-led Department of Education isn't exactly enthusiastic about defending these regulations. They're probably hoping to use this lawsuit as ammunition in their quest to gut them.
So today two members of the Debt Collective, represented by our friends at Harvard's Project on Predatory Student Lending, filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. They're seeking to defend what the Dept of Ed likely won't: the right of student debtors who were lied to by their schools to have their debts canceled. They're joining 9 Attorney Generals who also intervened in the lawsuit for similar reasons.
It's important that the Dept of Ed and Secretary DeVos be held accountable in court. And likely this won't be the last of the legal efforts to do so. But legal action is not enough. Just as the Dept of Ed will use the for-profit colleges' litigation against them as a tool in the political fight against debt cancellation, we will use these legal actions as a tool in our political fight for debt cancellation.
They keep thinking we'll go away quietly. We know how to prove them wrong.