Washington, D.C. — Ben Miller, senior director for postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress, released the following statement following news that James Runcie, chief operating office for the Federal Student Aid (FSA) office, resigned from his position:
Betsy DeVos must guarantee that the new head of FSA—one of the most important jobs in the U.S. Department of Education, overseeing a portfolio of $1 trillion—makes protecting student and taxpayer investments their primary role. They must be completely independent of the student loan servicing and debt collection industries, as well as of any institution of higher education that has faced government investigations at any level. This individual’s annual performance contract also must be updated to make the enforcement of rules protecting students and taxpayers the primary objective on which they are judged.