Congresswoman Katie Porter (CA-45) today joined Rep. Lucy McBath (GA-6) and other freshmen colleagues to introduce legislation to make permanent a student loan forgiveness program for borrowers who were defrauded or misled by their schools. The Relief for Defrauded Students Act of 2019 would support these protections for students, as the Department of Education under Betsy DeVos has failed to follow through with promises made to protect borrowers.

“In my nearly two decades as a consumer advocate, I’ve seen time and again what happens when we let predatory institutions run amok with no accountability,” Congresswoman Porter said. “We’ve seen this in the 45th District and at schools across the country—students are getting cheated. It is past time that we get protections in place for Americans trying to access higher education.”

Earlier this year, reports found that Argosy University students didn’t receive financial aid funds they were promised from the institution. Argosy’s parent organization, Dream Center Education Holdings, owned Western State College of Law in Irvine, which is currently in a court-appointed receivership due to gross financial mismanagement.

Over 180,000 applications have been filed nationwide for student debt relief in the last three years. The new Porter-backed bill would provide a quicker, fairer process for students to reclaim their loan payments from predatory institutions.

A tenured law professor at UC Irvine, Porter has been a leading advocate for college affordability and addressing the student loan crisis. She introduced a bill in May to protect student borrowers and increase transparency and accountability within the student loan servicing industry. In April, Porter held townhalls at UC Irvine and Concordia University Irvine to hear directly from students. She also called out Argosy University after reports that students hadn’t received financial aid funds and met with affected students.

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