Elizabeth Warren: Education Department Shouldn't Be A 'Lapdog' - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Elizabeth Warren: Education Department Shouldn't Be A 'Lapdog'
Shahien Nasiripour - HuffPo
Posted: 12/06/2013 10:13 am EST | Updated: 12/06/2013 10:39 am EST



<snip>

In a Thursday interview, the Massachusetts Democrat said she was “deeply concerned” by a Huffington Post report that the Education Department had recently told Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest handler of student loans, that it intended to renew its federal contract to collect payments on federal student loans, despite pending investigations by at least other three federal agencies over allegations the company violated borrowers’ rights.

Warren, a member of the Senate banking and education committees, also said it was “shocking” that the department had not yet recovered some $22 million in allegedly improper payments made to Sallie Mae despite a 2009 recommendation from the department’s inspector general that it recover the debt.

“The Department of Education needs to be aggressive in watching out for students, not for profit-making loan servicers,” Warren said. “They’re there for our students, not to help loan servicers make a profit.”

The criticism comes as Education Secretary Arne Duncan battles perceptions that his department is too soft on the companies it pays to collect on federal student debt, while these companies are alleged to be harming borrowers and violating federal rules. Warren has been among his most outspoken critics, and on Sept. 19 she wrote him a letter demanding answers.

“The whole point of the letter was...

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/elizabeth-warren-education-department_n_4398107.html

[JRLeft]

1. Good for her, I am tired of the republican-lites.

[Mass]

2. True, but the problem would be easier if higher education tuitions were lower, including in state

colleges. This way you would not need to depend on companies like Sally Mae.

May be your senator could talk about that MORE.

[DURHAM D]

3. Isn't that a state matter?

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Sure, the education of our kids ought to be viewed as a social good,

and I endorse free education from preschool through graduate degrees, but that's a target some distance in the future, and she's right to concentrate on the part of the problem that might be realistically within our grasp. Ya know--like Lyndon was able to get through Medicate for the elderly but would not have succeeded in getting it for everyone.

[Mass]

6. Sure, but does that prevent people from being vocal on the source of the problem?

It does not mean that you will succeed, but you start educating people.

[polichick]

5. Imagine that, the admin. is soft on corps. More straight talk from EW.

[msongs]

7. Ed Dept is a corporate toady like the Attorney General's office nt

[polichick]

8. And the guy who chose the heads of those depts: Obama...

The prez seems like such a smart and good man - but when you look at his personnel choices you wonder if he's either smart or good.