Statement on Subpoenas of Department of Education Officials in Dream Center Scandal
WASHINGTON, DC – Student Defense Litigation Director Eric Rothschild issued a statement regarding House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott’s subpoena of several Department of Education employees regarding their role in the Department’s coverup of misconduct by Dream Center Education Holdings, a for-profit college company that collapsed in 2018. Student Defense has represented students harmed by Dream Center colleges in litigation against the schools and the Department itself. In 2019, the Department agreed to cancel approximately $11 million in student debt that it had illegally lent to Student Defense clients after concealing several schools’ loss of eligibility for federal funds. The Department also cancelled approximately $16 million in loans for former students of Dream Center subsidiary Argosy University, after Student Defense intervened in a receivership proceeding for the collapsed company, and advocated on behalf of students whose living stipends had been improperly diverted.
Student Defense Litigation Director Eric Rothschild:
“From the very beginning of the Dream Center scandal, the Department of Education has been hiding the truth from students and from Congress. Because the Department was so willing to help cover up the Dream Center’s misdeeds, students like our clients took out loans and spent months attending classes at unaccredited schools, derailing their educations and in many cases their entire futures. It’s unfortunate that the Department’s dilatory tactics have forced Chairman Scott to resort to subpoenas in this case, but the public needs to learn the true extent of the misconduct here.”
More information about Student Defense’s litigation on behalf of students harmed by the Dream Center is available here: