More echo letters ~ Betsy DeVos ought to be ashamed

Letter to the editor (Chicago Tribune): 

Betsy DeVos dilemma ~ "Truth"!

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos ought to be ashamed of herself for trying to push through a reversal of the Obama-era regulation that made it easier for students to erase debited loans in cases of fraud. These regulations were not only necessary, but purposely put in place to guard unsuspecting students from being taken advantage of by for-profit colleges. 

It's just one more concession DeVos and her administration has made to big-money investors who want to make sure they not only get their money back, but also make a huge profit off the backs of young people who can least afford it. It's deception at the highest level.

Is this being done on purpose? You bet. The Obama administration had this right, implementing rules that guarded students from being saddled with huge (and yes, Trump University), that use deceptive marketing and predatory recruitment in order to turn a profit.

As a long-time educator I recognized these scams for what they were when they came to life in late 1980s and early 1990s. Many students asked me about going to these types of schools, and after conversations, I realized these schools were just profit centers. The students’ degrees were essentially worthless and the prospect of a job in the students’ chosen fields dim at best.

Here's how this scam works. The school's counselor/salesperson would get a student to attend the college. The school would then load a student up with as much debt as possible because loans would be guaranteed by the U.S. government. In essence, it wouldn't matter if the student could pay back the loan or not because the taxpayers would always guarantee the loan. The college got its money no matter what … at least until the Obama administration shut down the scam. DeVos wants to reverse this protection.

DeVos also wants to kill the provision that barred colleges from requiring students to sign an agreement that would force them into arbitration in the event of a dispute. If a student can't afford to pay for college, how can he or she be expected to afford a lawyer for representation in mandatory arbitration? DeVos' proposal is also considering a higher burden of "clear and convincing" evidence of fraud for all students. Maybe the government should require these colleges to prove they weren't defrauding the students.

This should be a call to arms for all parents with kids currently in college and those with future college aspirations. Call or write your members of Congress and tell them that you will not be voting for them unless they kill this bad proposal in its tracks before it gains a foothold.

— Lee R. Talley, Tinley Park