--- title: Betsy DeVos Sued Over Suspended Student Loan Protections description: A former student sued Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over the suspension of protections for student borrowers at for-profit colleges canonical: https://time.com/4852951/betsy-devos-lawsuit-for-profit-college-regulations/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-11T18:57:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:58:41.661Z article:section: Politics og:title: Betsy DeVos Sued Again for 'Devastating' Suspension of Student Loan Protections og:description: The student wants to be "free and clear of a fraudulent school that preyed on the weak" og:url: https://time.com/4852951/betsy-devos-lawsuit-for-profit-college-regulations/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bd5c4847fc38590/6988d55f4ee26246bd30e1bf/betsy-devos-education-secretary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Testifies To Senate Hearing On Budget Of Department og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Betsy DeVos Sued Again for 'Devastating' Suspension of Student Loan Protections twitter:description: The student wants to be "free and clear of a fraudulent school that preyed on the weak" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bd5c4847fc38590/6988d55f4ee26246bd30e1bf/betsy-devos-education-secretary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Betsy DeVos Sued Again for 'Devastating' Suspension of Student Loan Protections > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 11, 2017 6:57 PM UTC  Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill on June 6, 2017 in Washington. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill on June 6, 2017 in Washington. Win McNamee—Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 11, 2017 6:57 PM UTC A woman in Portland, Oregon filed a lawsuit against Education Secretary [Betsy DeVos](http://time.com/4835920/betsy-devos-education-senate-democrats-civil-rights/) in federal court on Monday over the department’s [recent suspension](http://time.com/4847149/education-secretary-betsy-devos-attorney-general-barack-obama/) of new protections for students who borrow money to attend for-profit colleges. Niesha Wright, a 40-year-old mother of two, graduated last year from the now-defunct [ITT Technical Institute](http://time.com/4480356/itt-technical-institutes-shut-down/) with what her lawsuit calls “worthless, non-transferable credits and a mountain of student loan debt.” She attended ITT Tech from September 2014 to June 2016, graduating with an associate’s degree about two months before the for-profit college shut down after former President Barack Obama’s Education Department accused the school of putting students at financial risk and banned it from enrolling new students who receive federal financial aid. Wright, who now owes more than $25,000 in student loans, applied for debt forgiveness under the [new Obama-era regulations](https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-announces-final-regulations-protect-students-and-taxpayers-predatory-institutions), which were set to take effect on July 1\. Those rules, which expanded the process for forgiving federal loan debt in cases where for-profit colleges had defrauded students, were suspended last month by DeVos, [who said they](https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-announces-regulatory-reset-protect-students-taxpayers-higher-ed-institutions) created a “muddled process that’s unfair to students and schools, and puts taxpayers on the hook for significant costs” “I was very upset because I was actually looking forward to getting some gratification and some justice and some relief from the debt that I’ve accumulated,” says Wright, who is now working as a loan analyst. “To hear that a woman who’s [never even taken out a financial aid loan](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/01/18/elizabeth%5Fwarren%5Fgrills%5Fbetsy%5Fdevos%5Fyou%5Fhave%5Fno%5Fexperience.html) would say, ‘No, they can’t have it,’ that was just devastating.”  Niesha Wright, pictured with a young cousin, filed a lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Monday. Courtesy of Niesha Wright The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. “It’s time to take a step back and make sure these rules achieve their purpose: helping harmed students,” DeVos said in a [statement](https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-announces-regulatory-reset-protect-students-taxpayers-higher-ed-institutions) in June. “It’s time for a regulatory reset. It is the Department’s aim, and this Administration’s commitment, to protect students from predatory practices while also providing clear, fair and balanced rules for colleges and universities to follow.” Wright, who previously held only a high school diploma, said she had thought going back to school would create more career opportunities for her. She attempted to re-enroll at ITT Tech in September 2016 to get her bachelor’s degree, but found that the school had shut down. When she tried to apply her credits to a program at another school, she found they were non-transferrable. “Especially for someone with no college education at all, for someone who’s not real educated on the schooling system and how it works, I was putty in their hands,” she said. “To find out that they weren’t \[transferable\] was devastating,” she added. “I don’t even have that school on my resume. I can’t use it for anything.” Wright’s lawsuit aims to stop the delay of the borrower defense regulations and allow her to apply for debt forgiveness. Her suit comes days after Democratic attorneys general in 18 states and the District of Columbia [filed a suit](http://time.com/4847149/education-secretary-betsy-devos-attorney-general-barack-obama/), demanding that DeVos implement the borrower defense rules. “All I wish to gain is to be free and clear of a fraudulent school that preyed on the weak,” Wright said. “That’s really it. And it’s unfortunate because I want to go back to school, but now I’m like, ‘How can I really trust the board of education because they’ll allow anyone to get in these false debts?'” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4852951/betsy-devos-lawsuit-for-profit-college-regulations/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4852951/betsy-devos-lawsuit-for-profit-college-regulations/"},"headline":"Betsy DeVos Sued Again for 'Devastating' Suspension of Student Loan Protections","datePublished":"2017-07-11T18:57:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:58:41.661Z","description":"The student wants to be \"free and clear of a fraudulent school that preyed on the weak\"","url":"https://time.com/4852951/betsy-devos-lawsuit-for-profit-college-regulations/","keywords":["Education","College","Donald Trump","onetime","Betsy DeVos"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bd5c4847fc38590/6988d55f4ee26246bd30e1bf/betsy-devos-education-secretary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bd5c4847fc38590/6988d55f4ee26246bd30e1bf/betsy-devos-education-secretary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Testifies To Senate Hearing On Budget Of Department","caption":"Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Testifies To Senate Hearing On Budget Of Department","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4852951/betsy-devos-lawsuit-for-profit-college-regulations/","name":"Betsy DeVos Sued Again for 'Devastating' Suspension of Student Loan Protections"}}]}] ```