Is there an idiom one step past “setting the fox to guard the hen house”? Because thanks to Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos, we really need one. Maybe “putting a private student loan company CEO in charge of student loans.” It doesn’t have a snappy ring to it, but it’s true, and it’s appalling:
The Education Department's statement described A. Wayne Johnson as the "Founder, Chairman and former CEO" of a payments technology company called First Performance Corporation. It noted his Ph.D. in education leadership, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, citing his dissertation, said he "actually wrote the book on student loan debt."
But what wasn't noted was Johnson is currently the CEO of Reunion Student Loan Services, a detail confirmed by a company representative reached by phone on Tuesday afternoon. Reunion originates and services private student loans, and offers refinancing and consolidation for existing loans.
He actually wrote the book on student loan debt? Or he actually filled his own bank book with dollar signs thanks to other people’s student loan debt?
This is who the Trump regime thinks should oversee student debt. Someone who has spent his career figuring out how to squeeze the next dollar out of people struggling to pay off their educational loans. If you or your kids have student debt, take this as what it is: a sign that Trump and DeVos put your future behind private profit, your interests behind private loan companies.
