Published: February 2018

PROSPER Act puts for-profit schools’ interests ahead of students and taxpayers

In a Feb. 23 letter to Congress, Consumer Action and its allies working for fairness for student borrowers reiterated support for higher-education safeguards, including the gainful employment rule to ensure for-profit schools actually prepare students for real jobs; the borrower defense rule to protect student borrowers when their schools go bust; the 90-10 rule limiting the number of students using the GI Bill at specific schools; and the ban on incentive compensation, commissions for-profit school recruiters who often cross ethical lines when signing up students. These four commonsense regulatory measures—which Consumer Action supports and has written much about—should be present in any bill that targets higher education in the future. However, the groups note in their letter that the PROSPER Act (HR 4508) seeks to weaken or gut these protections, leaving students and taxpayers susceptible to for-profit school fraud.

Consumer Action joined 80 advocacy organizations in opposing attacks on protections for students and taxpayers and urged Congress to vote no on the PROSPER Act (H.R. 4508). Without the protections singled out for elimination or weakening in the PROSPER Act, students will face higher debt loads to attend programs that are far less likely to pay off.

Lead Organization

The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS)

Other Organizations

American Association of University Women (AAUW) | American Federation of Teachers | Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) | Americans for Financial Reform | AMVETS | The Bell Policy Center | Blue Star Families | Center for American Progress | Center for Digital Democracy | Center for Global Policy Solutions | Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) | Center for Public Interest Law | Center for Responsible Lending | Children's Advocacy Institute | Colorado Center on Law and Policy | Consumer Action | Consumer Federation of America | Consumer Federation of California | Consumers Union | Council for Opportunity in Education | Democrats for Education Reform | Demos | East Bay Community Law Center | Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath) | The Education Trust | Empire Justice Center | Equal Justice Works | Generation Progress | Government Accountability Project | Hebrew Free Loan Society | High Ground Veterans Advocacy | Higher Ed, Not Debt | Housing and Economic Rights Advocates | The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) | Ivy League Veterans Council (ILVC) | Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition | Mentoring Veterans Towards New Professions (MVPvets) | Mississippi Center for Justice | Mobilization for Justice, Inc. | NAACP | National Association for College Admission Counseling | National Association of Consumer Advocates | National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) | National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients) | National Consumers League | National Education Association (NEA) | National Military Family Association | National Urban League | National Women's Law Center | New America Higher Education Initiative | New Jersey Citizen Action | New York Legal Assistance Group | New Yorkers for Responsible Lending (NYRL) | One Wisconsin Now | PHENOM (Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts) | Progress Virginia | Project on Predatory Student Lending | Public Citizen | Public Counsel | Public Good Law Center | Public Law Center | The Retired Enlisted Association | Service Employees International Union (SEIU) | Skills2Compete - Colorado | Student Action | Student Debt Crisis | Student Veterans of America | Swords to Plowshares | Tennessee Citizen Action | Third Way | Travis Manion Foundation | U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) | UnidosUS | United States Student Association | Veterans Education Success | Veterans for Common Sense | Vietnam Veterans of America | Western New York Law Center | Women Employed | Woodstock Institute | Young Invincibles

More Information

Click here to read the letter in full.

For more information, visit TICAS.

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