Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is named in the lawsuit.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is named in the lawsuit. Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

Education Department’s Handling of Loan Forgiveness Draws Union Lawsuit

Teachers union’s Randi Weingarten joins eight teachers citing clerical errors behind denials.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, along with the department she runs, on Thursday was hit with a lawsuit by the American Federation of Teachers seeking redress for teachers who say they were unfairly denied benefits of the federal student loan forgiveness program for borrowers who were incentivized to work in public or nonprofit-sector jobs.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the union, its president Randi Weingarten and eight teachers from across the country, argued that DeVos has "done nothing to remedy the gross mismanagement" of the federal public service loan forgiveness program.

It faulted administration of the program by both the department and private lenders. Borrowers among certain classes of public-service workers, the union said, make 120 monthly payments toward their loans over the course of a decade or longer. “But qualifications for the forgiveness program are complex, and according to U.S. Department of Education data released last fall, only 96 applicants out of 28,000 who applied between October 2017 and June 2018 were approved.”

The suit cited studies of the program’s longstanding unreliability as documented by the Government Accountability Office and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, whose student loan regulations both DeVos and Trump appointees at the bureau have sought to roll back.

One plaintiff, Cynthia Miller, “is a teacher in Chicago who applied for loan forgiveness last year after making at least 120 qualifying payments,” the suit said. “That set off more than a year of back-and-forth with agents at the department, who gave her conflicting information and ultimately denied her application. When she asked for an explanation, she received a letter containing more than 160 pages of dense numerical code and undefined abbreviations.”

Another plaintiff, Janelle Menzel, “is a teacher in Minnesota who asked her loan servicer, Nelnet, about the federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness program, which forgives a portion of student loans for teachers working in low-income schools for five years. Menzel was eligible for the program," a press release from the union alleged, "but Nelnet told her she was not." The suit also alleged that Nelnet "misrepresented the payment process—leading to Menzel making payments for five years that were not counted toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility.”

The suit called some of the company denials “arbitrary and capricious,” citing processing errors and inaccurate information. It asked the court to require the department to vacate the loan forgiveness denials, freeze denials and provide a status report on the program, arguing that its current handling had violated the plaintiffs’ rights as well as the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

Asked for comment by Government Executive, Education spokeswoman Liz Hill said the department does not comment on pending litigation, but it "is faithfully administering the complex program Congress passed."

The department has stressed that the program is complex and includes restrictions on the types of eligible loans. Back in December, the department did launch a new tool to help borrowers understand the program’s ins-and-outs.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.