03.26.14

Durbin to Introduce Legislation to Coordinate Oversight of For-Profit Colleges

Senator says for-profit colleges a part of the growing student loan debt burden that will be highlighted at Senate Committee hearing tomorrow

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - In a speech on the floor of the Senate today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced that, next week, he will be joining with U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, to introduce legislation that will ensure that federal agencies are working together to oversee the for-profit college industry.  According to Durbin, for-profit colleges are part of the problem when it comes to the growing student loan debt burden which will be highlighted at a hearing in the HELP Committee tomorrow.  More information on that hearing can be accessed HERE. 

“For many years, for-profit schools were allowed to operate relatively freely and often one step ahead of regulators.  I’m hopeful that with the investigations I already mentioned and the many more that are occurring, means we’re starting to turn the corner – to better hold these schools accountable to taxpayers who often subsidizes up to 90% of their operations and to students who ultimately are the victims,” said Durbin. 

 

“With many agencies involved in these oversight efforts – Department of Education, Securities and Exchange Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Defense, and others – it is important that they are effectively working together,” Durbin continued.  “Senator Tom Harkin and I are working on a bill that we’ll introduce next week, to ensure this coordination.”

 

Durbin also told the story of Jaqueta Cherry from North Carolina who, after trying a community college, was lured by aggressive for-profit college marketing efforts and is now thousands of dollars in debt without a degree to show for it.  Read more about Jaqueta’s story HERE. 

Video of Senator Durbin’s floor speech can be accessed HERE.