Debra Wiley at the Department of Education finally speaks!

"Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do." -Goethe

Recently in a piece entitled, "Who's gonna help students who have been defrauded?," I discussed the fact that there's been a lot of buzz about students who have been defrauded by higher education. In this piece I also implored the indentured educated class to reach out to Ms. Debra Wiley, who serves as the Ombudsman in the Department of Education. 

This focus of what's happened to students has been primarily on that of the for-profit institutions. While I think it's a step in the right direction, and I especially applaud Luke Swarthout in Senator Harkin's office for his work on the matter (incidentally, I've been in touch with Luke by phone and email, so he's fully aware of this movement to help the indentured educated class), I also think it is far too convenient to single them out. The problem is systemic and much broader than merely the for-profits taking advantage of students. For instance, in a conversation I had with author Claudia Dreifus last week we discussed the way in which higher education institutions are not monitored in any way and are able to drive the cost of tuition without having to justify it. Her husband, Andrew Hacker, who is also the co-author of their recent book entitled, Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money And Failing Our Kids - And What We Can Do About It, recently appeared on the Colbert Report. Colbert did a segment on for-profit institutions (see the embedded segment below; Hacker was quite funny). That is quite exciting to see, but we need to taking aim at all institutions of higher learning. (I will be featuring Ms. Dreifus this coming week. She was gracious enough to be interviewed about her work).

                   

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Thanks to the indentured educated class we continue to collectively demand that individuals within the Department of Education and also elected officials. Our letters have, once again, made a difference. I also have to credit Ms. Wiley at the Department of Education for her response. After all, it's about time the Dept. of Education actually responded to our letters of concern. 

As part of another letter writing initiative, many of you sent letters to her. One particular reader wrote on August 25,2010:

Hello Debra,

My name is Mr. Z and I have some questions for you
concerning the student loan crisis.
 

The Department of Education is failing to help current debtors. Why
have they forgotten us? What is being done to help current debtors who
can't afford to pay high payments for their student loans? Why is
there no relief for the citizens of this country that worked hard to
obtain their degree, only to be eternally indebted to private banks
(for private loans) and risk destroying their credit and possibly
losing their jobs due to defaulting on student loans?

Thank you for your time,

Mr. Z

I wrote a similar letter and asked all of my readers to cc me on their notes to Ms. Wiley. As mentioned, Ms. Wiley responded. She made it clear to Mr. Z that his concerns were being added to a file and that the White House was also aware of the requests that we have been making with regard to the student lending crisis.

So if you haven't written to Ms. Wiley, please do so now (her email address is Debra.Wiley@ed.gov). When you do, please cc me on that email. That way, I can keep track of the number of letters we're sending to her, too. I encourage you to ask the same types of questions that Mr. Z asked her.

This news is great. That's why we must continue to keep fighting for our rights. I also urge you to donate $5-$10 to the "Enough is Enough" Campaign. So far I've collected $529, and the campaign has only been running for a week! Please pitch in today.