ACLU sues Department of Education over student debt info

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts is taking the U.S. Department of Education to federal court in an effort to force the government agency to cough up information about its student debt collection practices, especially as they relate to minority borrowers.

In a joint Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, the ACLU and the National Consumer Law Center note in their filing that they originally requested the release of Department of Education records last May.

The May 7, 2015, FOIA request sought the release of Department of Education records outlining the department’s “collection practices, the policies governing the private collection agencies (‘PCAs’) with which it contracts and ED’s policies for monitoring the racial impact of its collection policies and practices.” Continue…

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