In the News

That’s one conclusion from Department of Education data published Thursday by the Student Borrower Protection Center. The data, released to the nonprofit advocacy group through a Freedom of Information Act request, also indicate that borrowers are owed more than $37 million in wages seized between March 2020 and June 2021...

Frotman spoke to The Associated Press about the Biden administration's decision to extend the student loan repayment moratorium and other issues facing the $1.5 trillion industry.

The SBPC, which advocates for borrowers’ rights, released a report in July showing for-profit colleges disproportionately established themselves in minority communities and engaged in predatory practices leaving students in significant debt.

Over the past decade, a number of for-profit schools have shut down over accusations of misleading students and leading them to take on more debt than they can pay off. A recent report found those schools target minority communities that were already disproportionately burdened by student debt.

State authorities in California struck a deal with a fintech firm to treat a controversial finance product known as income-share agreements as student loans, requiring compliance with the state’s student borrower protection laws.

Despite pushes to address predatory practices—such as the withholding of Title IV federal financial aid—for-profit institutions are continuing to target communities of color through recruitment and location strategies, according to a new Student Borrower Protection Center report.

The Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) analyzed where for-profit postsecondary institutions located themselves and found patterns suggesting that for-profit schools target neighborhoods composed mostly of people of color.

Those borrowers now have more rights under a law that went into effect this year and gained teeth this month with a new ombudsman’s office empowered to review complaints about student loan providers.

In April, consumer groups led by the Student Borrower Protection Center urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to scrutinize the first-of-its-kind arrangement between Blue Ridge Bank of Martinsville in Virginia and MentorWorks Education Capital. The bank funds financing packages developed by MentorWorks, a fintech firm, which students...

Seth Frotman, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, said that as payment processing is ramped back up, all borrowers, regardless of their servicer, need to take steps to protect themselves. “Requesting a copy of their payment history, downloading whatever they can from their account, and making sure that...