The Obama administration this week unveiled its plan to create a Student Aid Enforcement Unit intended to allow the U.S. Department of Education to investigate and punish illegal activity at institutions and provide debt relief to defrauded federal loan borrowers. The new unit would be charged with investigating misconduct at colleges, imposing administrative actions against colleges and resolving student loan debt relief claims linked to fraud, reported Fortune Magazine.
John B. King Jr., the department's acting secretary, said the new unit would "streamline and enhance" the agency's enforcement capabilities and allow it to answer requests for loan forgiveness more quickly. The department already conducts investigations and audits of colleges and universities that receive federal funds, but officials said the administrative reshuffling will speed up and improve the quality of its investigations of wrongdoing, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The enforcement team would be comprised of four divisions: an investigations group to identify colleges that are breaking the rules; a borrower defense group to provide legal analysis and advice to borrowers who file claims asking to have their student loans forgiven; an administrative actions and appeals service group to revoke colleges' access to aid and handle appeals by colleges; and a Clery group, to ensure that colleges are complying with the Clery Act, which requires them to disclose campus crime statistics in order to receive federal financial aid.
The unit will start with approximately 50 employees, most of whom will come from existing positions, but President Obama is requesting an additional $13.6 million in his 2017 budget to support the Office of Federal Student Aid's oversight activities.
Related Links
Fortune Magazine
http://fortune.com/2016/02/09/feds-crack-down-crooked-colleges/
Inside Higher Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/09/education-department-creates-new-office-crack-down-fraud-colleges