'Betsy DeVos made a mess' of the U.S. student loan system, teachers' union boss says

[Quixote1818]

AARTHI SWAMINATHAN
Nov 16th 2020 11:43AM

Fixing the U.S. student loan system goes beyond just debt forgiveness, according to one teachers’ union leader, and the current administration hasn’t done much to help borrowers.

“Look, Betsy DeVos made a mess of this,” Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “We have sued DeVos several times. We sued Navient. … But ultimately, just like mortgages, and just like other things, student loan debt needs to be transparent.”The burden of the financial aid “needs to be clear,” Weingarten added. “People need to know what their choices are. And then we need to try to mitigate it to actually make [sure] student loan debt is not a death sentence for people.”

‘There’s a lot that you can do’
Currently, roughly 44 million Americans hold nearly $1.7 trillion in student loan debt.

Multiple lawmakers have proposed — through various bills and even on their respective campaign trails — cancelling debt for 37 million borrowers holding federal student loans. These loans are owed by Americans to the U.S. Department of Education.

More: https://www.aol.com/article/finance/2020/11/16/betsy-devos-made-a-mess-of-the-us-student-loan-system-teachers-union-boss-says/24692998/

[smirkymonkey]

1. K&R

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. That was clear from her Senate Confirmation hearings. Watch Elizabeth Warren eviserate Devos

An utter incompetent, in a position she had no business accepting, much less being nominated for.

[crickets]

4. Yikes.

DeVos didn't file her ethics paperwork before the hearing, and was obviously completely unprepared to do the job she was nominated for. I was going to listen for a just a minute or so, but sat through the whole thing because Elizabeth Warren was doing such a masterful job of showing DeVos for the inappropriate, useless nominee that she was. There is no way in the world DeVos should have been given her current job. None.

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. Exactly. She got the nomination because she was a huge donor to Trumpy

This administrations cabinet has been so full of incompetents it makes ones head spin.

[crickets]

3. Because of course she did.

Linked at the end of above article:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/public-servants-student-loan-forgiveness-program-151843090.html

Congress created the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) in 2007 to help various kinds of public service workers erase their student debt after ten years of loan payments.

But management of the program is widely considered to be a failure as more than 98% of applications from teachers, firefighters, police, and other public servants are rejected.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been sued multiple times over her department’s high denial rate, while Education Department (ED) officials contend that Congress designed the rules to be too restrictive. [snip]

In early 2020, amid lawsuits against the department and lawmakers decrying that 99% rejection rate, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos agreed to simplify part of the paperwork process.

And linked from a Twitter thread in that article:

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/31/801367031/education-dept-unveils-fix-for-student-loan-programs-bureaucratic-nightmare

The change — which the department posted to the Federal Register without a news release or other public announcement — will address one of the most alarming revelations in the GAO's review: 71% of denials were essentially due to a paperwork technicality. According to the GAO, more than 38,000 applicants were denied relief under the expansion — known as Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF) — simply because they hadn't first applied for and been denied PSLF.

The department's fix is to consolidate the two programs into one application form so that borrowers applying for TEPSLF will no longer have to first file a separate application for PSLF.[snip]

"The department's lack of urgency in helping borrowers navigate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program has left applicants confused, panicked and rightfully frustrated," said Rep. Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat and chairman of the House education committee. "I am relieved that — in response to intense public pressure — the department is finally taking a step toward fixing the PSLF application process. However, this change alone does not satisfy the department's responsibility to faithfully implement the law."

That 'paperwork technicality' had to be deliberate. Wow, what a nightmare for people just trying to apply, much less the rejection rate to this point. Typically unhelpful is the lack of public information provided after a change was forced. It's a good thing this is getting some media coverage to mitigate that. Hopefully, the latest 'fix' will actually help.