Niesha Wright completed an associate's degree program at ITT Tech last summer, weeks before the for-profit giant began to crumble under increasing regulatory pressure from the Obama-era Department of Education.

She didn't leave the program as a proud graduate. The 40-year-old Portland resident had more than $25,000 in federal student loans and few useful skills to show for her two years at ITT Tech, according to her attorney. Wright hoped to obtain relief, along with tens of thousands of other jilted ITT students, through a federal student loan forgiveness program geared toward students who experienced misleading or predatory treatment at the hands of largely for-profit colleges.

But on June 14, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said she would delay the Obama administration's proposed rules governing the loan forgiveness program. The Obama rules, set to take effect July 1, were designed to streamline the application process for students like Wright.

On Monday, Wright sued DeVos in federal court.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a separate lawsuit from Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and 18 of her colleagues last week challenging DeVos' legal authority to unilaterally delay the borrower defense rules without public process. "Had this rule gone into effect on July 1, as intended," Rosenblum said last week in a statement provided to The Oregonian/OregonLIve, "it would have provided important protections for borrowers who have been victimized by certain predatory for-profit schools.

"It's unfathomable to me that the U.S. Department of Education would delay a rule designed to hold for-profit-colleges accountable to those who borrowed to attend their school."

The Securities and Exchange Commission settled a fraud case against ITT this month and the federal government continues to go after top executives for deceiving investors.

According to the lawsuit, Wright twice filed applications with the Department of Education to forgive her loans. She applied first in April and again last week.

Michael Fuller, a Portland attorney who is handling Wright's case at no cost, said in an interview that his client just wants to have her application processed. If that happens, she'll withdraw the lawsuit.

Fuller said his client is not the only student waiting for action from the administration.

"We know there are thousands based on the enrollment [at the time of ITT's closure]," he said.

A U.S. Department of Education spokesperson said in an email that the department does not comment on pending litigation.

In response to Rosenblum and the attorneys general lawsuit last week, the education department described the lawsuit as "ideologically driven."

Fuller, the pro bono attorney, said he believes DeVos is "in bed with the [for-profit] industry," and he expects more lawsuits challenging the rules delay.

Obama's education department enacted a series of new regulations on the for-profit sector in response to the 2015 bankruptcy of then-giant Corinthian Colleges Inc.

Last August, the administration prevented ITT Tech from enrolling new students who relied on financial aid to attend school.

The administration organized a special website last September designed to help students from the shuttered for-profit chain figure out her next steps.

A little more than 500 students were enrolled at ITT Tech branches in Oregon at the time of the school's closure. In December, Oregon lawmakers approved an emergency plan to help pay for a $1.4 million program at Portland Community College to help some 150 ITT Tech nursing students complete their program.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen