In 2015, the Obama Education Department received thousands of claims from former students of Corinthian Colleges. The chain of for-profit colleges had recently shut down following findings that it lied to students about job placement rates.•
Predatory for-profits tend to go after potential students who are or have such as people of color, single parents, and older students.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris wins a 1.1 billion dollar judgement against for profit Corinthians college for predatory and unlawful practices.
The college intentionally targeted low-income, vulnerable Californians through deceptive and false advertisements and aggressive marketing campaigns that misrepresented job placement rates and school programs.
The Obama administration moved to make it easier for students to get loans erased. But the overhaul was reversed by the Trump administration, which later wrote its own rules making it tougher to get relief. In changing the rules, then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said it had become too easy to get loans forgiven.
The Obama administration utilized Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to significantly expand federal oversight of sexual harassment and sexual violence on college campuses. The cornerstone of this policy was an April 2011 "Dear Colleague" letter that outlined schools' obligations to address sexual misconduct as a form of sex discrimination
In 2020, the Trump administration and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos finalized Title IX regulations that overhauled how colleges handle sexual harassment. These rules, effective Aug 2020, narrowed the definition of harassment, bolstered the rights of the accused (including live cross-examinations), and reduced college liability by limiting investigations to on-campus incidents.
“For years, Corinthian profited off the backs of poor people – now they have to pay. This judgment sends a clear message: there is a cost to this kind of predatory conduct,” said Attorney General Harris.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has killed investigations into abuses by prominent for-profit colleges and also dismantled a special investigative team at the department that was formed in 2016, after the collapse of Corinthian Colleges, to continue those investigations.
In September 2025, the Trump administration announced the elimination of approximately million in discretionary federal grants for Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), including Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). The administration labeled these grants "racially discriminatory" and unconstitutional, aiming to end programs that favor specific ethnic groups
•The Biden/Harris administration forgives 5.8 billion in loans from students who were defrauded at Corrinthians college.
In August 2025, the Trump administration ordered colleges to submit data proving they do not consider race in admissions, following the 2023 Supreme Court ruling [ABC7 , CNN]. This move aims to enforce a strict interpretation of the ban on affirmative action, with officials investigating if "diversity statements" are used as loopholes to favor Black and Latino students, threatening to withhold federal funding
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