Published: February 2016

Building a resolution-focused complaint database students need

In a letter to Acting Education Secretary John King, Consumer Action and 50 other organizations that advocate on behalf of students, consumers, veterans, faculty and staff responded to the Department of Education’s request for comments on their proposed Enterprise Complaint System. The organizations applaud the Department for proposing a student and borrower complaint tracking system that accepts complaints about loans, other aid, and colleges, while urging the Department to make the system public, searchable, resolution-focused and inter-connected to the complaint systems at other government agencies.

As part of President Obama’s Student Bill of Rights, the Department of Education was tasked with creating and implementing  a new student complaint tracking system that provides students and borrowers with a simple and straightforward way to file complaints and provide feedback about federal student loan lenders, servicers, collections agencies and schools. 

After reading the Department’s proposal, coalition partners weighed in on the agency’s initial plans. Advocates were pleased to learn that the Department is committed to seeing that borrower complaints are resolved and that the system will be available in both English and Spanish. However, several recommended changes to the Department’s current plan are essential to efficiently use taxpayer resources and maximize accountability for students and borrowers on the part of lenders, servicers, institutions, and contractors.

Lead Organization

The Institute of College and Success (TICAS)

Other Organizations

Air Force Sergeants Association | 
American Association of University Women (AAUW) | 
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) | American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
 | Americans for Financial Reform
 | Center for Public Interest Law
| Center for Responsible Lending | 
Children's Advocacy Institute
 | Consumer Action
 | Consumer Federation of America
 | Consumer Federation of California
 | Consumers Union
 | Council for Opportunity in Education
 | Demos
 | The Education Trust
 | Empire Justice Center | 
Government Accountability Project
 | Higher Ed, Not Debt
 | Housing and Economic Rights Advocates | 
Initiative to Protect Student Veterans
 | The Institute for College Access & Success | Institute for Higher Education Policy | 
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
 | MALDEF | 
NAACP | 
National Association for College Admission Counseling
 | National Association of Consumer Advocates
 | National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients)
 | National Consumers League | 
National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
 | National Women Veterans Association of America
 | National Women's Law Center
 | New York Legal Assistance Group | 
Project on Predatory Student Lending of the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law | Public Advocates, Inc.
 | Public Good Law Center | 
Public Law Center
 | Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
 | Student Debt Crisis
 | Student Veterans of America
 | United States Student Association
 | University of San Diego School of Law | Veterans Legal Clinic
 | U.S. PIRG
 | Veterans Education Success
 | Veterans for Common Sense
 | Veterans' Student Loan Relief Fund
 | VetJobs
, VetsFirst, a program of United Spinal Association
 | Vietnam Veterans of America
 | Woodstock Institute
 | Young Invincibles

More Information

For more information, please visit TICAS.

Download PDF

Building a resolution-focused complaint database students need   (coalitioncomplaintssystemcommentlettertoed_0.pdf)