Dive Brief:

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) criticized the U.S. Department of Education Wednesday in a speech to educators and policymakers at the American Federation of Teachers' Shanker Institute.
• The Boston Globe reports that Warren called for external oversight of department activities, including moving the student loan complaint system to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to avoid a conflict of interest.
• She said the department failed students in allowing Corinthian Colleges to continue operating for years after concerns were raised about its efficacy, and in clearing loan servicing contractor Navient of wrongdoing even though the Justice Department found that it systematically failed to provide interest rate caps for active duty service members, according to the article.

Dive Insight:

Warren has been one of the most vocal opponents of the for-profit college sector, calling for greater oversight and greater regulatory action by the federal government. She has led the charge for debt-free college and argued that former Corinthian Colleges students should not have to repay their federal student loans. She helped broker loan forgiveness for many of these students who held certain private loans. Warren created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau but was blocked from running it by Congressional Republicans and instead ran for the senate, where she has become a major force on the progressive left.