WASHINGTON —U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, welcomed the U.S. Department of Education’s announcements to protect student borrowers from predatory practices and restore Pell Grant eligibility for students whose institutions closed. Murphy, who in August urged the Department to strengthen the draft “borrower defense” rule, also called for additional legislative and administrative actions to protect students and hold bad actors accountable.

“The new rules out today strengthen students’ hands when they’re victimized by shady for-profit colleges. Student borrowers now have more information and legal options at their disposal, clearer routes to debt relief, and more opportunity to further their education through restored Pell Grants. It’s the government’s job to stand up for our students and stop them from being cheated out of their student loans. I believe they could have gone further -- and I will continue to urge them to do so -- but there’s no doubt that students are better off today than they were before,” said Murphy.

“Executives who prey on vulnerable students need to be held personally liable for the damage they cause. I’m going to keep fighting on the Education Committee to pass my Students Before Profits Act because it’s inexcusable that these predators are allowed to skate after knowingly, and sometimes intentionally, defrauding students,” Murphy added.

According to the Department of Education, the so-called “borrower defense” rule out today provides students with new information on schools with poor outcomes, protection from being forced to sign pre-dispute arbitration agreements, and clear processes to file claims and seek recourse. They allow the Secretary of Education to provide debt relief to students and automatically discharge loans for students whose institutions closed and who did not seek education elsewhere. See the Department’s summary here.

Additional provisions restore Pell Grant eligibility for eligible students. According to the Department of Education, “Following requests from bipartisan members of Congress, the Department has determined it has the authority to restore semesters of Pell Grant eligibility for Pell recipients at closed institutions.” Murphy partnered with U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Cali.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) last year to introduce the Pell Grant Restoration Act of 2015 to restore Pell Grant eligibility for students who attended an institution of higher education that closed due to certain violations.

Last year, Murphy called on the Department of Education to grant debt relief to students scammed by Corinthian Colleges. “It’s the Department of Education’s responsibility to protect every student – not a lucky few,” he said at the time.

Murphy introduced the Students Before Profits Act to protect students from deceptive practices and bad actors in the for-profit college sector. In addition to improving oversight and authorizing enhanced civil penalties institutions and their executive officers when they break the law, the bill requires for-profit college owners and executives to assume personal liability for financial losses associated with Title IV funds.

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