When the Education Department?s direct loans website fell pray to a technical ?glitch? earlier this month, the financial details of thousands of students were made public, an education official said in a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
James Runice, the chief operating officer of the Education Department?s office of federal student aid, revealed on Tuesday that the financial data had been made public for a 67-minute window, and that as many as 5,000 college students? personal financial data had been laid to bare, according to the Associated Press.
Continue ReadingRunice?s testimony came during a hearing held by the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training about government-run student loans.
Last week, the Education Department said in a statement that on Oct. 12, ?a small number of borrowers? had logged into myedaccount.com and were able to view the personal information of other borrowers during a ?brief website glitch,? and that the department ?became aware of the problem within minutes and took immediate action to resolve the issue.?
?We?ve reached out by phone and email to the borrowers who were directly impacted, and offered them free credit monitoring, support and the opportunity to ask questions about what happened,? Education Department spokesman Justin Hamilton had said, noting that there was ?no reason to believe that any of the information has been misused.?
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the chairwoman of the subcommittee, said the purpose of the hearing was to examine the federal takeover of the student loan industry in light of Republican lawmakers? concerns about this ?political tactic.?
?Any time the federal government assumes control over a private sector industry, there can be national implications,? Foxx said, according to prepared remarks of her opening statement.
One of the concerns the congresswoman mentioned was the glitch that the direct loan website suffered earlier this month. ?The implications of this kind of website malfunction are severe, particularly when it affects millions of borrowers nationwide,? Foxx said.
Runice said in his introductory statement that he believes the transition to the direct loan program has been a ?success.?
The directors of financial aid for Kennesaw State University and Denison University, as well as the vice president for enrollment management at Baker University, were also witnesses at the subcommittee hearing.
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