Delaware’s attorney general has joined 17 states and the District of Columbia in suing Education Secretary Betsy Devos and the U.S. Department of Education.
They're arguing she had no right to unilaterally suspend a rule designed to protect student loan borrowers from predatory colleges.
The borrower-defense regulations would allow students to have their loans forgiven if they attended a college that used deceptive or illegal tactics to get them to borrow money for tuition.
They would also bar lenders from putting clauses into loan agreements that prevent students from suing them in court.
But Devos put the regulations on hold before they could take effect this month.
"These regulations were carefully crafted over two years with thousands of public comments, and Devos had no right to unilaterally suspend them," Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn said.
The AG's are arguing that Devos has the right to suspend the rules, but only after going through a public input process. In the meantime, they're asking a judge to remove Devos' hold and let the rules take effect.
But the Department of Education said in a statement the regulations would put unfair and possibly illegal regulations on schools and lenders.
The statement said these rules were adopted under the Obama administration’s approach of “regulate first, and ask the legal questions later."
