Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray resigns from Education Department

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Richard Cordray, the top Biden administration official in charge of college financial aid, has resigned from the Education Department. Cordray, the former head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, faced calls from House Republicans to resign after the failed rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form caused grief for students struggling to enroll.  

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona released a statement Friday that said Cordray will continue in the job until June working on "key priorities." He said Cordray "accomplished more transformational changes to the student aid system than any of his predecessors."

"It's no exaggeration to say that Rich helped change millions of lives for the better," Cardona said in the statement. Cordray, a former attorney general of Ohio, left the CFPB in 2017 to run unsuccessfully for Ohio governor. 

CNN reported that Cordray notified employees on Friday that he was resigning as chief operating officer of Federal Student Aid. He has held the post since May 2021.

Cordray said in a statement: "Over my tenure, we provided student loan forgiveness to more than 4,000,000 borrowers and their families; made it easier for people to apply for and manage federal student aid; and took strong actions to hold schools accountable for defrauding students," adding that he has "agreed to stay on for an interim period to help with the transition."

Education Department Undersecretary James Kvaal posted on social media: "It's been a privilege to work alongside Rich Cordray, who epitomizes the words public servant. Rich is brilliant, incredibly dedicated, and always focused on what's best interests of students. Rich transformed student loan policies that were only paper promises to actual help for millions of people in need."

The rollout of the updated Free Application for Federal Student Aid form was plagued by technical glitches and processing delays that led some House Republicans to call for Cordray to resign. 

"It's time for Cordray to go and for the department to wake up and realize that blindly following Biden's agenda is irreparably damaging student success," Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who chairs the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said earlier this month, according to Inside Higher Ed.

Cardona said in the statement that during Cordray's time at the Education Department he made changes to fix the Public Service Loan Forgiveness, income-driven repayment programs and revitalized the FSA Enforcement Unit.

Law and regulation

At CFPB, bitter feelings about final Cordray maneuver

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Cordray served for six years as the first director of the CFPB and during his tenure, the bureau brought enforcement actions that returned more than $12 billion to consumers. He filed a massive enforcement action against Wells Fargo over the bank's fake-accounts scandal. But his time at the CFPB was tumultuous, marked by tensions with Republican lawmakers over federal regulations of payday loans and an attempt to eliminate arbitration clauses that ultimately was overturned.