On the recordMay 26, 2016
I have not been shy about coming to the Senate floor to voice my concerns about the for-profit college industry. This is an industry that enrolls 10 percent of college students, collects 20 percent of Federal student aid, and accounts for over 40 percent of student loan defaults. This industry has a terrible track record; yet it continues to collect billions each year in Federal funding. If there ever was an industry that needed to face accountability, it is the for-profit college industry. But for-profit colleges have long avoided accountability to their students and to regulators through the use of mandatory arbitration clauses. For years, mandatory arbitration clauses have been buried in the fine print of student enrollment agreements at for-profit schools. Students usually didn't even know that, by signing these agreements, they were giving up their right to a day in court if the school's misbehavior caused the students harm. Mandatory arbitration clauses mean, for example, that, if a student is misled or deceived by a school's advertising and goes into debt as a result, the student can't take the school to court. Instead, the student is forced into a secret arbitration proceeding where the playing field is tilted against the student's interests. Mandatory arbitration clauses allow schools to avoid accountability to their students--and the secrecy of arbitration proceedings means that misconduct stays hidden from the attention of regulators.…
