Nearly 16,000 federal student loan borrowers who were misled by for-profit colleges will have $415 million in debts erased, according to the U.S. Department of Education. These borrowers — who attended DeVry University, ITT Technical Institute and other schools — will receive relief through a legal provision known as borrower defense, which promises loan relief for defrauded borrowers.
With this announcement, the Biden administration says it has approved roughly $2 billion in loan relief for more than 107,000 borrowers through borrower defense.
Wednesday’s news stands out not only for the borrowers it will help, but because this is the first time the department has said it will grant borrower defense claims — acknowledging students had been defrauded — while a school accused of defrauding them, DeVry University, remains open for business and still enjoys access to millions of dollars in federal student loans.
