Department of Education Announces Hundreds of Millions in Debt Relief For One Group of Students

Leah Barkoukis | February 18, 2022 9:00 AM

The Department of Education on Wednesday announced nearly 16,000 borrowers will have their student debt erased.

The move to approve $415 million in debt relief comes after four new findings about job placement rates from DeVry University, ITT Technical Institute, and other schools, the DOE said.

This includes approximately 1,800 former DeVry University (DeVry) students who will receive approximately $71.7 million in full borrower defense discharges after the U.S. Department of Education (Department) determined that the institution made widespread substantial misrepresentations about its job placement rates. These are the first approved borrower defense claims associated with a currently operating institution, and the Department will seek to recoup the cost of the discharges from DeVry. The Department anticipates that the number of approved claims related to DeVry will increase as it continues reviewing pending applications.
In addition to the DeVry findings, the Department is announcing several other actions that will provide an additional approximately $343.7 million in borrower defense discharges to almost 14,000 borrowers. This includes new findings related to Westwood College and the nursing program at ITT Technical Institute, as well as recent findings about the criminal justice programs at Minnesota School of Business/Globe University and another $284.5 million in discharges to over 11,900 students who attended institutions such as Corinthian Colleges and Marinello Schools of Beauty whose applications were reviewed after earlier announcements of relief. (Department of Education)

“The Department remains committed to giving borrowers discharges when the evidence shows their college violated the law and standards,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “Students count on their colleges to be truthful. Unfortunately, today’s findings show too many instances in which students were misled into loans at institutions or programs that could not deliver what they’d promised.”