[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-581960-105":59,"doc-detail-581960-en":129},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":122,"head_meta":124,"extra_data":126,"updated_unix":128},105,"en","lessons-from-state-tuition-recovery-funds-for-consumer-protection-in-higher-education","Lessons from State Tuition Recovery Funds for Consumer Protection in Higher Education","","State tuition recovery funds are analyzed as a proven mechanism for consumer protection in higher education, addressing taxpayer burdens created by misconduct and abrupt college closures. Using Closed School Discharge and Borrower Defense to Repayment as core examples, the document compares state models with federal mass-discharge costs. It argues for a national common fund approach that would require institutional contributions, shifting reimbursement responsibilities from taxpayers while preserving statutory discharge programs’ structure.",{"@graph":69,"@context":121},[70,84,104],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/lessons-from-state-tuition-recovery-funds-for-consumer-protection-in-higher-education/581960/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":98,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":99,"interactionStatistic":100},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/lessons-from-state-tuition-recovery-funds-for-consumer-protection-in-higher-education/581960.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Valentina","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":101,"interactionType":102,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":103},"ViewAction",{"@type":105,"mainEntity":106},"FAQPage",[107,113,117],{"name":108,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":110},"What problems do college misconduct and abrupt closures create for higher education financing?","Question",{"text":111,"@type":112},"They can trigger large-scale federal loan discharges under programs like Borrower Defense to Repayment and Closed School Discharge, with taxpayers bearing most of the resulting costs.","Answer",{"name":114,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":115},"How do tuition recovery funds work in state models?",{"text":116,"@type":112},"Twenty-two states use pooled tuition recovery funds that require higher education institutions to contribute, reimbursing students when schools close abruptly.",{"name":118,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":119},"What policy change does the document propose for the federal government?",{"text":120,"@type":112},"It proposes replicating the model through a national common fund: institutions would pay into the fund, which would reimburse the costs tied to loan discharges, without creating a new entitlement program.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":123,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":125,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":127,"site_id":62},581960,1792042351,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":130},{"doc_id":127,"user_id":131,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":138,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":128,"read_time":36},13056703020460,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/be000253dac470eee5d?_k=1778207105932848923","Lessons from State Tuition Recovery Funds for Consumer Protection in Higher Education  \nPreston Cooper and Christopher Robinson April 2026  \nKey Points  \n• Misconduct and abrupt closures of colleges and universities have led to tens of billions of dollars in loan discharges through the Borrower Defense to Repayment and Closed School Discharge programs. Taxpayers have borne almost all these costs.  \n• Twenty-two states operate tuition recovery funds—common pools of funds to which higher education institutions must contribute—which make students whole when schools abruptly close.  \n• The federal government could replicate this model with a national common fund. Institutions would be required to pay into this fund, which would then reimburse taxpayers for the costs associated with loan discharges.  \n• The common fund would not create a new entitlement or loan discharge program but rather transfer the costs of operating statutory discharge programs from taxpayers to institutions.  \nIn August 2016, the US Department of Education barred ITT Technical Institute, one of the country’s largest for-profit educational institutions, from accessing the federal student aid system. Two weeks later, in September, ITT announced its closure with little warning. In retrospect, the writing was on the wall: ITT had been under extensive investigation by 19 states and several federal agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Justice, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.1 But the Education Department arguably waited too long to act—and when the college abruptly closed, students and taxpayers were left to deal with the consequences.  \nAt the time of its closure, ITT Tech enrolled tens of thousands of students across 130 campuses in 38 states. Many current and former students applied to have their loans canceled through the Closed School  \nDischarge (CSD) system. Under this provision, students may have their federal loans discharged if they were enrolled at the time of closure or withdrew from the institution within 180 days of its closing.2 Eventually, the Biden administration automatically extended closed school discharges to 115,000 borrowers at ITT alone, at a total cost to the federal government of over $1 billion.3  \nITT is not a unique case. In 2022, seven years after the closure of Corinthian Colleges—a for-profit degreegranting chain that operated over 100 Everest College, Heald College, and Wyoming Technical Institute campuses—Federal Student Aid announced that 560,000 student borrowers would have their loans discharged at a total cost of $5.8 billion.4 ITT and Corinthian Colleges were two of the more prominent cases in a wave of for-profit closures beginning in 2013 that  \nAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE 1  \nAnnual Main Campus Closures  \n180  \n160  \n140  \n120  \n100  \n80  \n60  \n40  \n20  \n0  \n\n|  |  |  |  |  |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n|  |  |  |  |  |\n|  |  |  |  |  |\n|  |  |  |  |  |\n|  |  |  |  |  |\n| |  | | | |\n| | | |  | |\n| | | |  |  |\n|  |  |  |  |  |\n\n2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025  \nSource: Authors’ calculations using data from US Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, Postsecondary Education Participants System, Closed School Search File, [https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/postsecondary-education-participants-system-a9084](https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/postsecondary-education-participants-system-a9084) .  \nreached its peak in 2018, but closures of both for-profit and not-for-profit institutions of higher education have steadily grown across the past decade and a half. In 2025, 16 private not-for-profit institutions of higher education also shuttered, slightly up from 14 in 2023.5  \nStudents who are not eligible for CSD may also apply to have their loans canceled through Borrower Defense to Repayment (BDR), a federal program in which students who contend that they were harmed by being misled, lied to, or defrauded by their institution are eligible to have their loans forgiven. Th","cbCaijKjF1ztX0SS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijKjF1ztX0SS","pdf",490316,16,"English","# Key Points\n## Case examples and scale of discharges\n## Policy design: state funds and a national common fund\n## Program eligibility and borrower defense dynamics\n## Enrollment trends and closure risk outlook","[{\"question\":\"What problems do college misconduct and abrupt closures create for higher education financing?\",\"answer\":\"They can trigger large-scale federal loan discharges under programs like Borrower Defense to Repayment and Closed School Discharge, with taxpayers bearing most of the resulting costs.\"},{\"question\":\"How do tuition recovery funds work in state models?\",\"answer\":\"Twenty-two states use pooled tuition recovery funds that require higher education institutions to contribute, reimbursing students when schools close abruptly.\"},{\"question\":\"What policy change does the document propose for the federal government?\",\"answer\":\"It proposes replicating the model through a national common fund: institutions would pay into the fund, which would reimburse the costs tied to loan discharges, without creating a new entitlement program.\"}]","Lessons from State Tuition Recovery Funds for Consumer Protection in Higher Education | PDF"]