It has been stated that the United States Department of Education would cancel the student loans of roughly 16,000 borrowers who attended various for-profit colleges and universities, including DeVry University. In all, $415 million has been allocated for disaster aid.
“The Department of Education remains dedicated to providing borrowers with discharges where the evidence reveals that their institution violated the law and regulations,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement released on Wednesday.
“Students rely on their institutions to tell them the truth,” Cardona said. The data reveal that, unfortunately, too many students were deceived into taking out loans from institutions or programs that we’re unable to deliver on their promises, according to the researchers.
From 2008 to 2015, the department discovered that DeVry deceived students by saying that 90 percent of its graduates who actively sought employment found work in their study area within six months of graduating. According to the government, the actual job placement rate was closer to 58 percent in actuality.
According to Donna Shaults, a spokeswoman for DeVry University, the school’s board of trustees and leadership have changed since the charges were initially made public by the federal government.
Shults said that he believes the Department of Education mischaracterizes DeVry’s calculation and disclosure of graduation outcomes in some advertisements. He “does not agree with the conclusions” that the Department of Education has made.
So far, more than 100,000 students whose colleges allegedly scammed have obtained debt forgiveness worth around $2 billion during the Biden administration’s tenure.
Over 16,000 students have had their student debts erased after successfully arguing that for-profit universities scammed them of their tuition payments.
According to CNN, the loans being canceled are worth $415 million. In a statement released on Wednesday, the Education Department announced the fresh wave of forgiveness.
According to The Wall Street Journal, some debtors receive financial assistance from the government after complaints that their colleges misrepresented graduates’ career prospects or otherwise defrauded them.
Under the terms of a legal provision known as the borrower’s defense to repayment, the debts are forgiven. It permits students to have their debts forgiven if they demonstrate that their educational institutions cheated them.
DeVry University, ITT Technical Institute’s nursing school, and Minnesota School of Business/Globe University were among the institutions that benefited from the loan cancellations.
According to the Journal, all institutions supplied false information regarding job opportunities.
Former students who were previously eligible for borrower defense forgiveness but had not applied for it will also be covered by the forgiveness.
According to the Journal, debtors who enrolled in extinct institutions like Corinthian Colleges and Marinello Schools of Beauty are among those who fall into this category.
By Forbes, the borrower defense scheme is still in operation. Anyone who thinks a school has victimized them may petition for debt forgiveness.
You may get an application for the program via the Education Department’s borrower defense site, which can be found here.
According to CNN, the Education Department’s decision on Wednesday marked the first time the department has authorized borrower defense claims for a school that was still in operation: DeVry University.
According to the agency, around 1,800 former DeVry students are eligible for debt discharges totaling approximately $72 million.
An official from DeVry University told CNN that the department had mischaracterized some of the school’s activities. Donna Shaults, a DeVry spokesperson, confirmed this in a statement.
In a statement, Shults said that “we do not agree with the conclusions they have made.” She also said that the school now has a new board of trustees and leadership and that the institution has reoriented its whole structure to better prepare individuals to compete in a tough job market.
The Department of Education has granted $415 million in borrower defense claims on behalf of almost 16,000 former students after fresh evidence revealed that their schools may have deceived them into taking out student loans in the first place.
Including the most recent round of debt forgiveness, the total amount of loan forgiveness issued by the department now stands at over $2 billion for over 107,000 borrowers.
Federal Student Aid Chief Operating Officer Richard Cordray said in a statement on Wednesday that when universities and professional schools put their interests before students, the federal government would not stand by and do nothing.
DeVry University
It is a private, for-profit institution located in DeVry, Ohio. After reviewing “voluminous volumes of information” that demonstrated the institution deceived prospective students on many occasions, the Department of Education decided to forgive around 1,800 former DeVry University students for a total of $71.7 million.
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DeVry University is accused of inflating its employment statistics between 2008 and 2015, saying that 90 percent of its alumni who actively pursued employment found work in their areas of study within six months of graduation.
However, according to the Department of Education, the true figure was closer to 58 percent, and school administrators were reportedly aware of the incorrect data for years before it was corrected.
The Education Department said that it anticipates an increase in the number of approvals from the New York school.
Westwood College
It is a private, coeducational institution located in Westwood, Massachusetts. In a similar vein, Westwood College is charged with stating fraudulently between 2002 and 2015 that its graduates had job post rates of 80 percent or higher “and that graduates would earn incomes of $50,000 or more,” according to the Education Department.
Students were also reportedly told that if they did not get a job placement within six months after graduation, the school would assist them in paying their obligations.
“There is no indication that Westwood followed through on its promise,” the Education Department said.
While its job placement statistics were greatly exaggerated, and its wage guarantees were based on national government data, the investigation found that real Westwood graduates sometimes earned half or as low as one-fourth of those sums.
There are around 1,600 borrowers from the school who will get a total of $53.1 million in forgiveness. The Education Department said it identifies previously declined cases that might be reconsidered and cleared based on the information presented on Wednesday.
This is the third such decision against the institution, which is now shuttered in Denver, Colorado.
Technical Institute of Technology (ITT)
The Education Department discovered that ITT Technical Institute misled students about the school’s nursing program’s ability to get programmatic accreditation, resulting in the forgiveness of $3.1 million in debt for around 130 students from the institution.
The institution has been accused of frequently failing to get accreditation owing to a lack of resources, a lack of competent professors, and a failure to satisfy minimum requirements. It is the fourth time that the school has been found guilty.
Globe University and the Minnesota School of Business
According to the Education Department’s investigation, the Minnesota School of Business and Globe University were found to have misled students in the criminal justice programs by promising them they might become a Minnesota police officer or a parole/probation officer after graduation.
However, the program lacked the necessary accreditation or credentials to prepare its pupils to take on such responsibilities.
As a result, students will get a complete discharge from the borrower defense. The Education Department granted discharges totaling around $3 million for 270 pupils. It is the second time that kids from the school have been dismissed in as many years.
Other schools
More than 11,900 former students who attended schools such as Corinthian Colleges and Marinello Schools of Beauty will receive a total of $284.5 million in discharges, according to a statement released by the Education Department on Wednesday.
According to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, “students want their universities to be honest with them.” The data reveal that, unfortunately, too many students were deceived into taking out loans from institutions or programs that could not deliver on their promises, according to the researchers.
