WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., joined U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., to introduce the Preventing Risky Operations from Threatening the Education and Career Trajectories of Students Act of 2019, also known as the PROTECT Students Act.

The bill endeavors to safeguard students, veterans and taxpayers from predatory and anti-student higher education practices and ensure that higher education meets the needs of hard-working students.

“For our students and veterans to receive the quality education that they deserve, we must ensure that they are protected from predatory practices that too often occur at for-profit colleges and other higher education institutions,” Hassan said. “From closing a loophole that allows for-profit colleges to take advantage of our veterans who have sacrificed bravely in defense of our freedoms, to ensuring that higher education institutions are preparing students for good-paying jobs that allow them to repay their student loans, to implementing a process to give students the loan forgiveness they are entitled to under the law, the PROTECT Students Act is critical to providing basic consumer protections to our students and preparing them for success.”

“For-profit colleges enroll just 9 percent of all postsecondary students, but account for 34 percent of all federal student loan defaults. Add to that widespread predatory practices and a unique propensity within higher education for massive precipitous collapses, and the for-profit college industry continues to represent a disproportionate risk to students and taxpayers,” Durbin added.

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