"Colleges and universities beyond the for-profit sector are seeing a rise in the number of borrowers alleging that they were misled or defrauded by their institution, as the Education Department works to clear a backlog in claims," Inside Higher Ed reports.

..."Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said the notifications arrived on campuses without any context or heads-up from the department.

'All of a sudden, they just started getting these notifications about individual claims, and they had not received any type of more general information about why are we getting these now, do we have to respond, what do we do with this and what does this mean?'

The notices just indicate that a claim has been filed and that the department is processing it. If the department does approve a claim for relief, the agency can seek to recoup the cost of that claim from the institution itself, but that’s under a separate process.

'So it’s not like ‘speak now or forever hold your peace,' McCarthy said in a recent episode of NASFAA’s podcast, Off the Cuff."

NASFAA's "Notable Headlines" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Articles included under the notable headlines section are not written by NASFAA, but rather by external sources. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented.

Publication Date: 10/24/2023