In August, House Education Chair Bobby Scott urged the Education Department to hold the executives of defunct for-profit colleges, like Corinthian and ITT Tech, personally liable for money owed to the federal government — a cost that has typically fallen on students and taxpayers. During a hearing last week, Federal Student Aid (FSA) director Richard Cordray directly responded to Scott's request, and he said he "absolutely agrees," according to Business Insider. "We see eye to eye on this," Cordray said. "More needs to be done to prevent people from abusing these student aid programs, from cheating taxpayers, from cheating students." Cordray was invited to testify before the House Education and Labor Committee last week on his financial aid priorities, and while he was often vague in his responses to a number of questions surrounding broad student loan forgiveness, he was clear with his stance on protecting borrowers defrauded by for-profit schools. During his line of questioning, Scott followed up on his August letter, saying that the Education Department has been "failing" to use its authority in holding the executives of institutions that defrauded students financially accountable, which has left "taxpayers and students to pay the price when institutions engage in fraudulent activities." Cordray acknowledged Scott's letter and said "it was a good bit of a kick in the behind for us to make sure we're moving down the road on this. And we will."
