Durbin applauds approval of borrower defense claims for Ashford University students

CHICAGO – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, released a statement Thursday applauding the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement to approve more than 2,300 borrower defense claims filed by former Ashford University students, totaling $72 million in relief.

Of the 2,300 claims discharged, 120 belonged to Illinois student borrowers, amounting to more than $3.6 million in relief, Durbin said in a news release.

“After years of calling on the Department of Education to swiftly discharge these borrower defense claims, I am relieved to know that the wronged students of Ashford University will see the relief they deserve after being scammed out of thousands of dollars for fraudulent degree programs,” he said. “This borrower defense group discharge is a victory for students, but we cannot allow for-profit colleges to continue lying and misleading Illinoisans and students around the nation into taking on mountains of student debt without a viable degree or career path.”

The Department of Education found that Ashford University’s misconduct includes widespread misrepresentations about the cost of attendance, ability to transfer credits, its accreditation and licensure status, and the length of its programs, according to the release.

“Some students were told they would not incur any out-of-pocket costs and were eligible for Pell Grants, but later discovered they had reached lifetime loan limits while enrolled, forcing them to withdraw with debt but no degree. Ashford University recruiters also told students they could transfer credits easily. These students, however, often were unable to transfer credits both into Ashford University and to other institutions,” according to the release.

In 2020, Durbin wrote a letter to the University of Arizona voicing his opposition to the university purchasing Ashford University as the acquisition would allow Ashford University to pose as a credible, trusted academic institution.

In that letter, Durbin noted that Ashford University had a long history of troubling practices and had been subject to numerous state and federal investigations and lawsuits for fraudulent and predatory practices, according to the release. While the sale did go through, Ashford University’s administration still runs the operations, including marketing and recruitment, for the for-profit college, now known as University of Arizona Global Campus, and continues to prey upon students, according to the release.

In August 2021, Durbin, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, held a hearing titled “Student Loan Bankruptcy Reform,” which featured the testimony of Diane Barta, a former Ashford University student.

Ashford’s history dates to 1918, when the Sisters of St. Francis of Clinton, Iowa, founded Mount St. Clare College. It was renamed The Franciscan University in 2002 and then The Franciscan University of the Prairies two years later. It was sold to Bridgepoint Education in California in 2005, and became Ashford University. Ashford University closed its campus on Clinton’s North Bluff Boulevard in 2016.