Gainful Employment: A Civil Rights Perspective
CRL and seven other civil rights organizations jointly authored a policy brief that shares the adverse impacts students of color experience and a primary impetus for a strong gainful employment rule.
Student loans create debt burdens that impact families for generations. Black Americans in general, and Black and Latina women in particular -- often are forced to take on more college debt than their white counterparts in pursuit of the American Dream. The student debt burden is felt most acutely by attendees of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. CRL successfully led a coalition of advocates that achieved substantial student debt cancellation in 2022. We continue to advocate for higher education policies to protect student loan borrowers and their parents from falling into a cycle of debt that keeps them from engaging in wealth-building activities.
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Three Ways to Fix Private Student Loan Troubles
By Maura Dundon Originally published by American Banker The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent report on private student loans drew a sharp critique from lenders, who claim that the CFPB unfairly singles out private loans while ignoring problems with federal student loans. While the federal loan program has issues of its own, private student loans have distinct concerns. Congress instructed...
Attorneys General in 14 States Support More Accountability From For-Profit Colleges
Attorneys General representing states in the South, Midwest, Southwest and Northeast stand united in support of progressive reforms affecting for-profit college accountability. In a letter to Members of Congress, the officials wrote, "[E]ach of our offices have encountered far too many former and current for-profit school students who have been harmed by the dishonest and unethical practices of some for-profit...
Do Students of Color Profit from For-Profit College?
A post-secondary education is increasingly necessary in order to obtain a high-quality job and a lifetime of financial security and wealth-building opportunities. Many students finance their education through student loans because they see its value as an investment in their future. However, according to the research presented in this paper, the value of that investment is questionable for those students...
CRL Comment on CFPB Complaint Narratives
This comment letter signed by 15 organizations supports the CFPB's proposal to make consumer complaint narratives public, and emphasizes the need to do this in the context of student loans. It also provides recommendations on how the complaint intake process could be improved so that more borrowers would be able to submit problems.
Comment on the Hearing on Financial Products for Students: Issues and Challenges
CRL provided a comment for the record on some of the issues covered in the Senate Banking Committee's hearing, "Financial Products for Students: Issues and Challenges" held on July 31, 2014. Students must make important choices related to how much they borrow and from what source, as well as how to conduct every day financial transactions and receive financial aid...
Letter of Support for Higher Education Act
This letter is written to the Chairman of the HELP Committee, Senator Tom Harkin (D – IA), as he seeks to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The reauthorization aims to make substantive reforms to protect students and address critical student lending issues, including student loan servicing, private student loans, for-profit colleges, and school-bank partnerships.
Gainful Employment Regulations Needed to Protect Students
On May 27, 2014, the Center for Responsible Lending submitted a comment to the Department of Education in response to their proposed gainful employment rule. In the comment, senior policy counsel Maura Dundon highlights: how for-profit colleges may fail to provide students the skills or education necessary to seek gainful employment, yet still be the beneficiaries of federal financial aid...
Coalition Comment Letter on Proposed Gainful Employment Regulation
CRL added its support to a broad coalition calling for the Department of Education to ensure that its final gainful employment rulemaking must be strengthened to protect both students and taxpayers. This comment letter identifies four specific initiatives to ensure that taxpayers dollars do not support waste, fraud or abuse.
For-Profit Colleges Saddle African-American and Latino Students with Crushing Debt, Poor Employment Prospects
Enrolling in a for-profit college usually means higher costs of attendance and higher default rates on student loans. This research brief explores why students of color – African-American and Latino - enroll more frequently in these schools than do white students. CRL also reviews how the Department of Education's proposed Gainful Employment rule could improve student outcomes.