学校关闭十年仍背近2.2万美元学贷：借款人集体起诉教育部，拒按扩围标准免除关校学贷
据美国国家公共电台（NPR）报道，非营利借款人维权组织 Student Defense 10月28日在联邦法院提起诉讼，指控美国教育部（Department of Education）非法拒绝全面执行关校学贷免除的规则，使学校突然关闭后留下债务的学生无法按已扩大的资格标准获得免除。诉讼的具名原告 Kendrick Gaussoin 曾就读于加利福尼亚州 Ventura 的私立营利性学校 Brooks Institute，该校2016年8月被其母公司突然关闭，他至今仍背着近22,000美元学生贷款，没有拿到学位。
关校学贷免除（closed school discharge）是写入联邦法律三十多年的机制：学校突然关闭时，符合条件的借款人可免除其联邦学生贷款。按传统规则，借款人须在学校关闭时在读，或在关闭前六个月内离校；规则同时允许教育部长在学校以「特殊情况」关闭时延长这一回溯期。
Brooks Institute 创办于1945年，曾有不错的口碑，1999年被出售后招生下滑，并被指存在高压推销、谎报毕业率与就业率等问题。Gaussoin 于2015年12月休学八个月、外出从事摄影工作，学校在他准备返校时关闭，他到校时发现校门已被铁链锁住。由于休学时间超出传统回溯期，他起初不符合免除资格。他的母亲 Christine Gaussoin 当年为他申请了家长 PLUS 贷款，目前仍欠约28,000美元。
2025年1月6日，教育部在上届政府任期最后阶段由时任副部长 James Kvaal 签署命令，以学校系以「特殊情况」关闭为由扩大多所已关闭学校的免除资格：凡在2015年5月6日当天在读的学生，即可获得贷款免除并退还已偿还款项，Gaussoin 与其母亲因此重新落入合资格范围。据《高等教育内幕》（Inside Higher Ed）报道，提起诉讼的借款人就读过的学校包括 Career Education Corporation、Education Management Corporation 与 Education Corporation of America 等营利教育公司旗下学校及 Bay State College。
据诉讼文件，Gaussoin 在今年夏天得知扩围决定后，于2026年8月23日提交免除申请；一周后，教育部在8月31日的信中以他不符合扩围前的传统资格为由驳回申请，其母亲的免除申请也在本月被驳回。诉状主张，扩围决定是在教育部法定权限内作出的，现政府不能在没有解释的情况下弃之不顾；多名与本案无关的高等教育律师对 NPR 表示，若要推翻扩围决定，教育部须像上届政府当年那样给出成文的法律理由并公之于众，而教育部未回应 NPR 索取其法律依据的请求。
教育部则为现行做法辩护。教育部发言人 Ellen Keast 对 NPR 表示，上届政府「专注于推行把学生贷款债务转嫁给每一位辛勤工作的美国纳税人的非法政策」，并称前任副部长在离任前数日以「一支（数字）笔」不当扩大了部分学校的关校免除期。教育部称其对免除计划的执行没有问题。曾在政权交接期任职联邦学生援助办公室（FSA）的前高级官员 Bonnie Latreille 对 NPR 表示，部长依法有权扩大资格窗口，她当时被一名部门高层要求：未经新团队批准，不得按扩围标准处理免除申请；另有两名前官员向 NPR 证实了她的说法。NPR 还指出，2019年11月，时任教育部长 Betsy DeVos 曾以同一权限、以「特殊情况」为由为 Art Institute of Colorado 与 Illinois Institute of Art 的学生扩大回溯期。
美国政府问责署（GAO）的一份审查显示，2010年至2020年间全美有超过1,100所学校关闭，约246,000名借款人因此符合关校免除资格。此案刚进入诉讼程序，提起诉讼本身并不意味着相关贷款会被自动免除，Student Defense 称此案代表 Gaussoin 及可能数以千计处境相似的借款人，最终哪些人能获得免除仍待法院裁决。
Borrowers Sue Education Department Over Stalled Closed-School Loan Discharges
A nonprofit borrower advocacy group, Student Defense, filed a lawsuit in federal court on October 28 accusing the U.S. Department of Education of illegally refusing to fully follow the rules of the closed school discharge program, according to NPR. The named plaintiff, Kendrick Gaussoin, attended Brooks Institute, a private, for-profit college in Ventura, California, that was shut down by its parent company in August 2016. He still owes nearly $22,000 in student loans and never earned his degree.
Closed school discharge has been part of federal law for more than three decades: when a school closes suddenly, the education secretary is required to cancel the debts of qualified borrowers. Under the traditional rules, a borrower must have been enrolled when the school closed or have left no more than six months before the closure. The rules also allow the secretary to extend that look-back period when a school closed under exceptional circumstances.
Brooks Institute, founded in 1945, was once well regarded, but enrollment declined after its sale in 1999, and borrowers accused it of high-pressure sales tactics and lying about graduation and job placement rates. Gaussoin took an eight-month leave of absence in December 2015 to work as a photographer, and the school closed as he was preparing to return; he arrived on campus to find the doors chained shut. Because his leave put him beyond the standard look-back window, he was initially ineligible. His mother, Christine Gaussoin, had taken out Parent PLUS loans for his education and still owes about $28,000.
On January 6, 2025, in the waning days of the previous administration, then-Undersecretary James Kvaal signed an order expanding eligibility for several closed schools, writing that they had been closed under exceptional circumstances: any borrower enrolled as of May 6, 2015, would qualify for a loan discharge and a refund of past payments. Gaussoin and his mother suddenly became eligible. According to Inside Higher Ed, the borrowers bringing the suit attended schools including colleges owned by Career Education Corporation, Education Management Corporation and Education Corporation of America, as well as Bay State College.
According to the lawsuit, Gaussoin learned of the expansion this summer and applied for his discharge on August 23, 2026. A week later, in a letter dated August 31, the department denied his request, judging him against the traditional pre-expansion requirements; his mother's discharge application was also denied this month. The complaint argues the expansion was made well within the department's legal authority and cannot simply be ignored or abandoned. Multiple higher education attorneys not associated with the case told NPR that reversing the change would require the department to build a reasoned, legal explanation and share it with the public, as the previous administration had done; the department did not respond to NPR's request to share its legal justification.
The Education Department defended its handling of the program. Spokesperson Ellen Keast told NPR that the previous administration was laser-focused on implementing unlawful policies to shift student loan debt onto every single hardworking American taxpayer, and that its under secretary used the stroke of a digital pen to inappropriately expand the closed-school discharge period for certain institutions days before leaving office. The department told NPR it stands by its implementation of the program. Bonnie Latreille, a former top official in the Federal Student Aid office during the transition, told NPR the secretary has the authority to expand the window, and that a top department official instructed her not to process discharges using the expanded window without approval from the incoming team; two other former officials corroborated her account to NPR. NPR also noted that in November 2019, then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos used the same authority, citing exceptional circumstances, to expand the look-back window for students of the Art Institute of Colorado and the Illinois Institute of Art.
A review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that more than 1,100 colleges closed between 2010 and 2020, leaving 246,000 borrowers eligible for a closed school discharge. The lawsuit has only just been filed; filing suit does not by itself cancel any loans. Student Defense says the case is brought on behalf of Gaussoin and potentially thousands of borrowers in a similar position, and which borrowers ultimately receive relief remains for the court to decide.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：美国教育部总部 Lyndon Baines Johnson 大楼（资料图）。Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 2.0。 / File photo: the Lyndon Baines Johnson Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. Via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
