Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Education
Durbin, Duckworth Help Veteran Receive Benefits After Being Denied Assistance
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with Congressman Dan Kildee (D-MI-05), today announced that a Flint-native and decorated Navy veteran, retired Senior Chief Russell Dotson, will receive tens of thousands of dollars of G.I. Bill higher education benefits owed to his family after the U.S. Navy denied this assistance because of a bureaucratic paperwork mistake. The acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly, has indicated to Durbin, Duckworth, Kildee, a… Continue Reading
12.16.19
Durbin Introduces Legislation To Improve Accountability Of Foreign Medical Schools Receiving Federal Student Aid
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation that would protect students and taxpayers by closing a loophole that gives special treatment to a small number of overseas medical schools. U.S. Representative Michael Burgess (R-TX-26) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives earlier this year. The Foreign Medical School Accountability Fairness Act would require all medical schools outside of the U.S. and Canada to meet the same minimum requirements to receive Titl… Continue Reading
12.13.19
Durbin, Bennet, Duckworth, Gardner To DeVos: Extend Closed School Discharge Eligibility For Illinois, Colorado Students
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Cory Gardner (R-CO) today sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos urging her to extend the closed school discharge eligibility lookback period for Dream Center Education Holding's (DCEH) Illinois Institute of Art and Art Institute of Colorado students who attended or withdrew on or after January 20, 2018. In November, the Department announced it would cancel the loans taken out by students… Continue Reading
12.12.19
Durbin: For Defrauded Student Borrowers, Secretary DeVos Is Secretary Scrooge
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' new methodology using Gainful Employment data for determining the amount of relief defrauded student borrowers should receive for successful borrower defense claims. This methodology would deny full relief to defrauded student borrowers. Durbin shared stories of three students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges, buried in unsurmountabl… Continue Reading
12.11.19
Durbin Statement On DeVos' New Proposed Methodology For Denying Full Relief To Defrauded Student Borrowers
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced the Department of Education has developed a new methodology using Gainful Employment data for determining the amount of relief defrauded student borrowers should receive for successful borrower defense claims: "This latest scheme by Secretary Betsy DeVos to penalize student borrowers is an outrage. The Department refuses to use Gainful Emplo… Continue Reading
12.03.19
Durbin: Will Senators Stand With Betsy DeVos Or Defrauded Student Borrowers?
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that guts essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. The DeVos borrower defense rule makes it almost impossible for borrowers who are defrauded by their school or harmed by their school's closure to receive the relief to which they are entitled, and which Congress intended, under the Higher Educ… Continue Reading
11.20.19
Durbin: Senate Must Stand With Defrauded Student Borrowers And Overturn DeVos Borrower Defense Rule
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that guts essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. The DeVos borrower defense rule makes it almost impossible for borrowers who are defrauded by their school or harmed by their school's closure to receive the relief to which they are entitled, and which Congress intended, under the Higher Educ… Continue Reading
11.15.19
Durbin, Murray Continue To Seek Status Of Group Discharge Applications Submitted By State AG's
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Patty Murray (D-WA) today requested the U.S. Department of Education provide an update on group discharge applications filed by State attorneys general on behalf of thousands of defrauded students who are eligible for federal loan discharge under the borrower defense provision of the Higher Education Act. The Department's response to the same request Durbin, Murray, and 20 of their Senate colleagues sent in June was "unacceptable." The applicati… Continue Reading
11.08.19
Durbin To Devos: Illinois Institute Of Art Students Deserve Full Loan Discharges After Accreditation Misrepresentation By Dream Center
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Education announced it would cancel loans taken out between January 20, 2018, and December 31, 2018, for students who attended Dream Center Education Holding's (DCEH) Illinois Institute of Art and Colorado Art Institute. "Today's loan cancellation will only relieve harmed Illinois Institute of Art students of part of the debt they incurred at these worthless institutions. I renew my c… Continue Reading
11.01.19
Durbin, Blumenthal, Brown Call On Devos To Immediately Cooperate With Investigation Into Department's Role In Dream Center Accreditation Misrepresentation
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today sent a letter to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos calling for her immediate and full cooperation with House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott's (D-VA-03) investigation into the Department's role in Dream Center Education Holding's (DCEH) accreditation misrepresentation at its Illinois Institute of Art and Art Institute of Colorado campuses. DeVos has failed … Continue Reading
10.31.19
Durbin Demands CFPB Investigation Of Mismanagement Of Student Loan Forgiveness Program
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), along 22 other Democratic Senators, demanded Consumer Financial Protect Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger to investigate student loan servicer Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) for mismanagement of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. "We write to request that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) immediately open an enforcement investigation into the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency's (PHE… Continue Reading
09.27.19
Durbin Announces Summer 2019 Recipient Of The Ed Greelegs Scholarship Program
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced Elizabeth Flores, a college senior from Chicago, was the recipient of the Ed Greelegs Scholarship Program for summer 2019. This scholarship, open to students from Illinois or those studying in Illinois, is an opportunity for the students to receive financial assistance while obtaining a first-hand experience in Senator Durbin's Washington, D.C. office. The program was created in honor of Durbin's former Chief of Staff who passed away… Continue Reading
09.27.19
Chicago, Illinois Student Interns In Durbin's Washington, DC Office
WASHINGTON - Chicago, Illinois, native Rasa Kerelis spent this summer interning for U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), working behind the scenes in the Senator's Capitol Hill office as an intern. Each year, close to 50 interns work in Durbin's Washington, D.C. office. "I started my career on Capitol Hill as a college intern for Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois," Durbin said. "I will never forget that day in February of 1966 when he agreed to hire me as an intern to work in his office. As a stud… Continue Reading
09.27.19
Springfield, Illinois Student Interns In Durbin's Washington, DC Office
WASHINGTON - Springfield, Illinois, native Mackenzi Matthews spent this summer interning for U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), working behind the scenes in the Senator's Capitol Hill office as an intern. Each year, close to 50 interns work in Durbin's Washington, D.C. office. "I started my career on Capitol Hill as a college intern for Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois," Durbin said. "I will never forget that day in February of 1966 when he agreed to hire me as an intern to work in his office. As… Continue Reading
09.26.19
Durbin, Lee Lead Congressional Effort To Overturn Devos Borrower Defense Rule
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Susie Lee (D-NV-03) today led the introduction of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval on Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that gutted essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. CRA resolutions of disapproval allow Congress to overturn regulatory actions of federal agencies with a simple majority vote in both chambers. A time for consideration… Continue Reading
09.19.19
Durbin, Duckworth, Booker, Hirono Introduce Bill To Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness To Adjunct Professors
WASHINGTON - At a time when adjunct faculty members make up nearly half of higher education instructors nationwide, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) today introduced legislation that would allow part-time faculty at colleges and universities across the country - who are often paid low wages with few benefits - to be eligible to participate in the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. In Illinois, more than ha… Continue Reading
09.19.19
Durbin Statement On Closed School Discharges For Former ITT Tech Students
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today issued the following statement after Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced automatic closed school discharges for more than 7,000 former ITT Tech (ITT) student borrowers-amounting to nearly $95 million in relief. The 2016 Obama-era borrower defense rule requires the Department to automatically grant closed school discharges, without any application, for borrowers who attended a school-such as ITT-that closed on or after November 1, 2013,… Continue Reading
09.04.19
Durbin, Dem Senators Press Devos To Provide Automatic Closed School Discharges To Former ITT Tech Students
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), today sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos calling for automatic closed school discharges for former ITT Tech (ITT) student borrowers. The 2016 borrower defense rule-which is still in effect despite DeVos' recently released revised rule eliminating protections for students-provides automatic closed school discharges for borrowers who have… Continue Reading
08.30.19
Durbin Statement On Devos Rule Gutting Student Loan Borrower Defense
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today issued the following statement after Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos eliminated the Obama-era Borrower Defense Rule that protects student borrowers and taxpayers from predatory for-profit schools. The rewritten rule issued by DeVos today also eliminates the restrictions on class action bans and mandatory arbitration clauses that were included in the Obama Rule and pushed for by Durbin. "This rule is another Trump-DeVos giveaway to… Continue Reading
08.12.19
Durbin, Markey, Blumenthal Request Information On Student Data Collection Practices
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today sent letters to numerous education technology (EdTech) companies inquiring about data collection practices on American students. The Senators raised concerns that the learning tools used by these companies could pose a serious risk to students, parents, and educational institutions as a result of the potential for massive amounts of personal information to be stolen, collected, or sold without thei… Continue Reading