DeVos: Victims of for-profit colleges just had to raise hands to get ‘free money’

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said that college students defrauded by for-profit colleges just had to “raise his or her hands to be entitled to so-called free money” under an Obama-era rule meant to protect them.

DeVos defended her decision to halt the Obama-era “Borrower Defense to Repayment” law during a keynote address at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference in Michigan Friday, according to The Detroit News.

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She said that the rule, which was meant to help students who fell victim to misleading and predatory practices by giving them clear and fair channels to file claims, was “rushed” without congressional approval.

“While students should have protections from predatory practices, schools and taxpayers should also be treated fairly as well,” she said. “Under the previous rules, all one had to do was raise his or her hands to be entitled to so-called free money.”

DeVos, who halted the law before it was set to go into effect on July 1 in order to redo it, is now facing legal action over the delay. Nineteen Democratic state attorneys general sued DeVos in July, accusing her of violating federal law.

DeVos spent her speech largely attacking Obama-era education policies. Her remarks came the same day she rescinded key laws on campus sexual assault.

“The time of ‘Washington knows best’ is over,” DeVos said. “This approach didn’t work, it has not worked and it will never work. President Trump and I know our jobs: It’s to get out of the way.”