A recent federal review found a troubling trend: Veterans reported college advisers had led them to believe the government would cover the cost of their education, only to find out later that student loans would be necessary, USA Today reported. So the U.S. Department of Education is warning the nation's colleges not to swindle American veterans, and it's inviting vets who have been deceived to come forward with their experience. The warning marks one of the first public actions from a newly restarted enforcement unit within the Education Department. That office is meant to safeguard taxpayer money and ensure students get the education they pay for. Borrowers who feel they were misled into taking out loans should submit a complaint to the Federal Student Aid office. The return of the “enforcement unit” comes after former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos had deprioritized the office. Under DeVos, the government also rejected tens of thousands of people seeking financial relief and saying their colleges misled them. The Education Department was then the subject of a class-action lawsuit that remains ongoing. In October 2021, the Biden administration announced it would again create the office and said Kristen Donoghue, who previously had worked for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, would lead it. As of February, the Education Department has sent back nearly $2 billion to students who were able to prove their schools misled them. Most recently, the agency sent millions of dollars to students who were defrauded by DeVry University and other colleges that have since closed. But the Department still had a backlog of nearly 88,000 applications as of September 2021.
