Important online petition re- comp sci education

[Allen Botnick]

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to let everyone know about a petition that affects comp sci and many other students.  As you know, questionable post-secondary programs are flooding the market with inadequate training.  Many students experience hardship trying to recover their tuition from these programs due to a combination of inadequate state regulation, reluctance of lawyers to sue accredited programs without hard evidence, difficulty in gathering evidence and short statute of limitations for suing programs.  The Direct Loans program has a safeguard in place that encourages students to be whistle blowers against problem schools by filing what is known as a Borrowers Defense.  This allows a student to document and report violations of state law that undermine their education and financially damage them.  The problem is that private and consolidated loans are do not have access to these defenses so many students are arbitrarily being discriminated against by being forced
 to repay illegitimate debts which they are not even permitted to defend.  This happened to me at a non comp sci program so I know first hand the frustration of wasting time trying to navigate the current system only to learn at the end, after spending thousands of dollars on lawyers to write a Borrowers Defense, that the outcome was preordained against me from the very beginning because I was never offered Direct Loans at the school I attended (see link below under "About this petition" for more information).  Guaranteeing every student the right to defend themselves makes these programs accountable and encourages the government to start taking them seriously.  This is a complete reversal of the current system which rewards bankers and the government with hefty default fees that even without interest exceed the original amounts of the loan.  I am asking everyone on this list to please visit the link below, read the petition and if you agree that
 this would be a positive step please sign it online and forward it to your contacts and ask them to do the same.  This small effort hopefully will have a ripple effect and force government to modify the current predatory system that has ruined many students lives unnecessarily.  Please feel free to forward this email to your contacts and thank you for your time and assistance.

US House of Representatives and Senate: Restore critical protections to student loan borrowers
http://www.change.org/petitions/us-house-of-representatives-and-senate-restore-critical-protections-to-student-loan-borrowers-2 


Sincerely, 

Allen J. Botnick 
Durham, NC  
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