Civil Rights and Education Groups: Students of Color Must Be Protected from For-Profit College Exploitation

WASHINGTON—The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 22 civil rights and education groups submitted a Federal Register comment today opposing the department’s proposal to rescind the 2014 gainful employment regulations. These regulations were designed to ensure that educational programs facilitating student borrowing provide an education that enables students to repay their loans. They are particularly important to students of color given their over representation in high-cost, low-quality for-profit colleges.

The groups write:

“Our students deserve the transparency and protection this rule provides, and robust enforcement by the department to ensure federal funds are used to advance, rather than limit, educational opportunity.

“While worse outcomes at higher cost are unacceptable and cause concern in any context, the specific disproportionate nature of these harms and costs based on student race is particularly alarming to the civil and human rights community.”

The letter can be read in its entirety here.

This comment follows an August 30 comment letter to DeVos regarding the department’s proposed rule governing borrower defenses against repayment, a proposal that would gut protections for defrauded borrowers. That proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on July 31, 2018.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.