Project on Predatory Student Lending Announces New Director, Eileen Connor | Press Release
The Project’s co-founder and previous Director, Toby Merrill, joined the Biden Administration as Deputy General Counsel for Postsecondary at the Department of Education
BOSTON – The Project on Predatory Student Lending, the leading organization representing former students of predatory for-profit colleges, today announced that Eileen Connor will now lead the organization as the sole Director. This follows the news that Project co-founder and former Director Toby Merrill has been appointed Deputy General Counsel for Postsecondary at the United States Department of Education. Five years ago, Toby Merrill and Eileen Connor launched a first-of-its-kind legal fight against predatory for-profit colleges, with Connor leading the Project’s powerful litigation as Legal Director. During that time, the Project has represented more than one million borrowers and its litigation has directly resulted in the cancellation of over $2.5 billion in student debts from for-profit colleges. “The Project’s work has truly changed the landscape for student borrowers and we wouldn’t be where we are today without Toby’s vision and leadership,” said Eileen Connor, Director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending.
“I’m excited to build on the foundation that we’ve created with our incredible team, partners and clients, and to secure justice for the millions of borrowers who have been harmed by this broken system and whose legal rights have been ignored for far too long. We have a lot of work to do and we won’t stop until it’s done.”
Over the last 5 years the Project’s litigation has successfully cancelled over 2.5 billion dollars in student loan debt of former for-profit college students. The Project has held the Department of Education accountable for its unlawful and harmful policies, including: illegally delaying the 2016 borrower defense rule, forcing the Department to stop illegal collections of student loans, holding Secretary DeVos in contempt of court for continuing to illegally collect on students’ loans, and successfully challenging the Department’s unlawful partial relief policy. Click here to learn more about the Project’s work and cases.
About the Project on Predatory Student Lending
Founded in 2012, The Project on Predatory Student Lending represents former students of predatory for-profit colleges. Its mission is to litigate to make it legally and financially impossible for federally-funded predatory schools to cheat students and taxpayers. The Project has brought a wide variety of cases on behalf of former students of for-profit colleges. It has sued the federal Department of Education for its failures to meet its legal obligation to police this industry and stop the perpetration and collection of fraudulent student loan debt.
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