Borrower Defense to Repayment (BDR)

What is Borrower Defense?

According to US News and World Report, “The borrower defense to loan repayment (BDR) forgiveness rule is a federal regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) that allows federal direct student loan borrowers who were defrauded by a college, university or career school to seek forgiveness of those loans.”

Since the BDR rule was established in 1994, a student was required to have or state a cause of action. In 2015, the rule changed so that students were required only to show substantial misrepresentation, such as conversations with admissions officers. Further changes have recently ensued: A self-reporting process was established in 2018. Again, the USDOE is expected to further relax standards to allow for more loan forgiveness.

Since 2017, six schools have been approved for BDR claims. In addition, in 2021, the USDOE has approved nearly 92,000 borrower claims with a valuation of over $1.5 billion. During this period, at least 69 public or private nonprofit colleges have closed or announced plans to close since 2016 – though none of these students have been approved for repayment.

Check out our College Loan Fairness white paper detailing how the Biden-Harris administration weaponized a sleep regulation to advance their free college agenda here.

Liberals’ Backdoor to Free College

The Biden-Harris Administration has found a back door to advance its free college agenda that has repeatedly been struck down by the courts using the with Borrower Defense to loan repayment rule (BDR) or “borrower defense”.

BDR is a type of debt appeal offered to recipients of direct federal student loans who attended a school they believe misled them, engaged in other misconduct, or violated state law. 

The Education Department announced it will operate under the assumption that borrowers were defrauded when determining if they should be granted full student loan relief, a change to current policy. While some student borrowers would welcome the relief – legitimate or not – countless other American taxpayers paid their loans or passed on a college education will be on the hook.