Biden forgives another $6B in debt for students of for-profit chain The Art Institutes
The Education Department has approved roughly $6 billion in student loan relief for more than 300,000 students who officials said were misled into taking on "mountains of debt."
The debt forgiveness, announced Wednesday, will go toward students who attended The Art Institutes, a network of for-profit colleges that was plagued for years by fraud allegations before shuttering its remaining campuses in September. The chain's parent company, Education Management Corp., reached a nearly $100 million settlement with the Justice Department in 2015 after a series of lawsuits. It lost its accreditation years ago.
The Education Department said it independently reviewed data from attorneys general in three states proving that the chain falsified employment rates and overstated its relationships with employers.
What is borrower defense? The Biden administration owes student debt relief to thousands. Many haven't seen it yet.
In a statement, President Joe Biden said forgiveness is part and parcel of his strategy to bring student loan relief to as many borrowers as possible. The administration credits itself with bringing almost $160 billion in forgiveness to nearly 4.6 million borrowers.
"This institution falsified data, knowingly misled students, and cheated borrowers into taking on mountains of debt without leading to promising career prospects at the end of their studies," Biden said in the statement.
The department said eligible borrowers who were enrolled at the schools between January 2004 and October 2017 would start being notified Wednesday.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden forgives $6B in loan debt for students of for-profit art school
