Clinical Instructor Eileen Conner Quoted in the New York Times

In a New York Times article, “Education Department Has Stalled on Debt Relief for Defrauded Students” Clinical Instructor and Litigation Director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending Eileen Conner was quoted in the following passage:

Eileen Connor, the director of litigation at Harvard Law School’s Project on Predatory Student Lending, said that she had borrowers who had claims pending from as far back as four years.

The project, which represents thousands of students from ITT Tech and Corinthian, said that it had over 14,000 applications from ITT Tech pending at the department. Only 33 have been approved, and those were by the Obama administration. Zero have been approved under Ms. DeVos.

Debt on the loans has continued to grow, Ms. Connor said. In lawsuits, the group has described how borrowers have experienced anxiety, fear and psychological and financial distress caused by delays.

The project has won several lawsuits against Ms. DeVos. But it said that the department continued to ignore crucial court rulings, including one that found the department could not take tax refunds of former Corinthian College students to pay their student loans while they have borrower defense applications pending.

“The department’s delay is not neutral,” Ms. Connor said. “It’s harming students.”