Home » Blog Index » News » The US Education Department is erasing debt for some students

The US Education Department is erasing debt for some students

Posted on June 17, 2021 at 8:44 am by Brett Levine

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2016, file photo, Harold Poling, left, and Ted Weisenberger check the doors to the ITT Technical Institute after ITT Educational Services announced that the school had ceased operating in Rancho Cordova, Calif. The U.S. Education Department has not approved any applications for student-loan forgiveness in cases of possible fraud since President Donald Trump took office, according to records sent to an Illinois senator. The records also revealed that the department has continued to receive new applications from borrowers who say they were victims of fraud, mostly from Corinthian borrowers and from former students of ITT Technical Institute. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

UNDATED (AP) — The U.S. Education Department says it’s erasing student debt for thousands of borrowers who attended a for-profit college chain that made exaggerated claims about its graduates’ success in finding jobs. The Biden administration is approving 18,000 loan forgiveness claims from former students of ITT Technical Institute, a chain that closed in 2016. The loan discharges will clear more than $500 million in debt. The move announced Wednesday marks a step forward in the Biden administration’s effort to clear a backlog of claims in a program that provides loan forgiveness to students defrauded by their colleges. Many students said it was harder to find jobs when they listed ITT Tech on their resumes.

Photo: FILE – In this Sept. 6, 2016, file photo (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)