Colleges Confounded by Flood of Borrower-Defense Claims

Colleges and universities beyond the for-profit sector are seeing a rise in the number of borrowers alleging that they were misled or defrauded by their institution, as the Education Department works to clear a backlog in claims. Under federal borrower defense to repayment rules, those who believe they were defrauded or misled by a college can file a claim seeking relief and potentially have their loans discharged. The department doesn’t publicly release information about the claims—and colleges aren’t eager to talk about them, either.