Durbin Thanks Education Secretary King, Pushes For Relief For Corinthian, Westwood, And Other Defrauded Students
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. to thank him for his dedication and service to students at the U.S. Department of Education. They also discussed high-priority issues that still need to be addressed by the Department before the end of the Obama Administration, including student loan debt relief for Corinthian, Westwood, and other defrauded students.
“For the past year, I have had the honor of working with Secretary King to bring accountability to a for-profit college industry that once exploited students and fleeced taxpayers with near impunity. With the leadership of President Obama and Secretary King, we’ve made great progress in the effort to give parents and students more information about these schools and to ensure there are consequences when schools are not living up to their promises,” said Durbin. “I encouraged Secretary King to make relief for defrauded students, including those who attended Corinthian and Westwood Colleges, a top priority in the remaining days of this Administration. Providing the relief to which these students are legally entitled is the right thing to do.”
A photo of today’s meeting is available here.
In February 2011, King was appointed by United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to serve on the U.S. Department of Education's Equity and Excellence Commission. In the fall of 2015, when then-Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that he would resign at the end of the year, President Obama announced that King would succeed Duncan. On March 14, 2016, King was approved to be Secretary of Education by the United States Senate after a 49-40 vote.