California is suing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the United States Department of Education over what the state claims was a failure to implement its student loan cancellation program for people who have held office. public service jobs.

“Today’s trial reminds Secretary DeVos that she is not above the law,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement on Wednesday.

“She is accountable to those college graduates who have followed the rules and deserve better, especially in the midst of an economic crisis of historic proportions.”

DeVos has been a lightning rod in education and in Washington. His critics pointed out his multi-million dollar wealth and links with various industries, and highlighted his family’s prior donations to Republican efforts. Consumer advocates also said it made it harder for defrauded students to get their loans canceled.

Congress created the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program in 2007 to encourage students to take up public service jobs, such as education and firefighting, by promising forgiveness of the remaining balance of their federal student loans after a decade of on-time payments. In 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimated that a quarter of American workers could be eligible.

Yet a complicated lending system and misinformation from lenders has led many borrowers to hit walls. Ninety-nine percent of loan forgiveness requests under this program were rejected between May 2018 and May 2019.

In 2018, Congress set aside hundreds of millions of dollars to fix the ailing program. The temporary expansion was intended to give a discount to borrowers who had not been informed by their lender or who did not understand that they were on a payment plan that disqualified them.

In the lawsuit, Becerra said the Education Department continues to deny nearly all borrowers who apply for debt relief under the program. California, the country’s most populous state, is home to the sprawling University of California system, which has 280,000 students and 2 million alumni living around the world. There are over 700 colleges in California, overall, and the state accounts for 10% of the nation’s university enrollment, more than any other state.

“University graduates who have spent a decade of hard work and making timely payments on their student loans have earned their TEPSLF loan forgiveness. But Education Secretary Betsy DeVos chose to ignore it all, ”said Becerra, who has sued the Trump administration more than 80 times.

The Education Department has received more than 196,000 public service loan cancellation requests and only approved about 3,400, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

The Education Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.