Joseph M. Black, Jr., Trustee v. Educational Credit Management Corporation and Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education

WOOD, Circuit Judge.

The central issue in this case is whether a regulation promulgated by the Secretary of Education that allows the assessment of collection costs on defaulted student loans to be done on a formulaic basis was a permissible implementation of the governing statute, 20 U.S.C. § 1091a. The district court upheld the regulation, 34 C.F.R. § 682.410(b)(2), over the objection of a bankruptcy trustee, and accordingly allowed the claim for collection costs computed according to the regulation. The trustee appeals. We agree with the district court that the regulation was a permissible…