ITT Tech Grads Get 3.9B Bits of Good News From Biden

$3.9B in student loans will automatically be forgiven
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 16, 2022 3:30 PM CDT
ITT Tech Grads Get 3.9B Bits of Good News From Biden
   (Getty Images / jetcityimage)

Some Americans who incurred federal student loans as many as 17 years ago will see them erased. The Biden administration on Tuesday announced that students who used federal loans to attend ITT Technical Institute as far back as 2005 will automatically see their remaining debt canceled. CNBC reports that amounts to $3.9 billion in relief for 208,000 borrowers who attended the for-profit college chain. ITT Tech at one point had 130 campuses across 38 states; it shut down in 2016 after the Department of Education banned it from enrolling new students who use federal financial aid.

The AP reports that it's the second wave of relief for the group from the DoE, which had already OKed the cancellation of $1.9 billion in debt held by former ITT Tech students; that relief largely went to students who had applied for it. There is no need to apply to get the benefit this time. "The evidence shows that for years, ITT’s leaders intentionally misled students about the quality of their programs in order to profit off federal student loan programs, with no regard for the hardship this would cause," said US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement.

This round of loan forgiveness comes on top of a similar announcement made in June to wipe out $5.8 billion in debt tied to Corinthian Colleges. But the AP notes Tuesday's announcement "cast no new light" on President Biden's thinking on far-reaching student debt cancellation. He has promised to decide by the end of August whether he will move to cancel some amount of student debt for all borrowers.

(More student loans stories.)

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