Court holds Department of Education violated Privacy Act rights of Corinthian students

AP reports that a federal court in California has ruled that the Education Department violated privacy laws with regard to students defrauded by the Corinthian for-profit college chain.

"In a break with Obama administration policy, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced in December that some students cheated by the now-defunct schools would only get a part of their federal student loan forgiven. In order to determine how much to forgive, the agency analyzes average earnings of graduates from similar programs.

"But a California district court ruled late Friday that the department’s use of Social Security Administration data in order to calculate loan forgiveness violates the Privacy Act. The court ordered that the Education Department stop the practice and stop debt collection from these students.

"The court also said that it needs to hear more from the agency and plaintiffs in the class-action suit in order to decide whether or not to compel the agency to return to full loan forgiveness. A hearing is scheduled for June 4."

The full article is here.

0 thoughts on “Court holds Department of Education violated Privacy Act rights of Corinthian students

  1. Jay Doe says:

    Silly question……Was it decided that the Department of Education violated Privacy Act rights of Corinthian students….
    ..or individuals whose SSA information was utilized to “analyze average earnings of graduates from similar programs.”
    In either case…..the decision = a cluster of people had their rights violated.

  2. Jay Doe says:

    Since the decision is recent…..it’s not-surprising to see that the U.S. Department of Education, still utilizes Social Security Administration data, to determine eligibility of disabled student debt holders, in its evaluation + decision of total and permanent disability discharge.
    The “TPD” application website states that the U.S.Dept of Ed. is directly connected to the SSA database,and receives data that generates notices of potential eligibility for student loan discharge (forgiveness) and sends these notices to disabled student loan-holders.
    If you visit the private contractor website,that handles “TPD” applications, you will see documents written and published by the U.S Dept., of Ed. that state there is an electronic link between the two agencies.. the website without the comma is disabilitydischarge,com the form OMB No. 1845-0065 expires on 9/30/19…….wondering if the decision would alter all dept.of Ed., utilization of…..SSA

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