Since President Biden took office, the Department of Education has canceled more than $9 billion in student loan debt, affecting more than 563,000 students.
Department of Education Confirmed the Cancelation of Student Loans
In a recently published article in The Hill, the new top-line number was verified by the government in a recent statement outlining the cancellation of $1.1 billion in debt for 115,000 debtors who attended the now-defunct ITT Technical Institute.
The decision comes just days after the Biden administration revealed intentions to cancel $5.8 billion in federal student loans for over 323,000 students who have been classified as completely and permanently disabled by the Social Security Administration.
Meanwhile, as the administration prepares to terminate the current hold on federal student loan payments, progressives have increased pressure on Biden to speed up efforts to cancel additional student loan debt for students, according to a report published in Yahoo News.
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$9.5 Billion Student Loans Will Be Canceled
According to the Education Department, this new wave of forgiveness from Pres. Joe Biden takes the administration's overall forgiveness to $9.5 billion for approximately 563,000 debtors, according to a recently published news article in CNBC News.
This targeted assistance was designed to prevent individuals from being scammed by institutions that engaged in wrongdoing or broke specific laws, such as fraudulently guaranteeing assured employment or wrongly assuring students that their credits would transfer to other universities.
Needless to say, the Biden administration is still working on expanding student loan debt forgiveness, which would benefit millions of people who are struggling to make payments. The president is presently awaiting findings from the Department of Education and the United States Department of Justice on the constitutionality of canceling student loan debt via executive order.
Borrowers Who Attended ITT
Borrowers who received relief attended ITT at a time when the school misrepresented its finances and misled students about expensive private loans that were falsely disguised as financial assistance, according to the Department of Education.
In a recently published article in Forbes, the agency said that ITT's deception diverted financial resources away from student education in order to keep the school open for years longer than it would have otherwise, resulting in debts that will be released beginning today.
Education Secretary Released a Statement
ITT, which closed permanently in 2016, "kept its real financial condition from borrowers" for years, enticing many of them into taking out private loans with deceptive and expensive terms, which may have led borrowers to drop out of school, according to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
After a review of the circumstances that led to the institution's collapse, as well as filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the company's bankruptcy court proceedings, Cardona extended the window for relief until March 31, 2008.
According to the agency, qualified debtors who attended any institution that closed between November 1, 2013 and July 1, 2020, and did not enroll in another university within three years of the school's closure would get automatic relief. Borrowers who were students at ITT during the last four months of its existence previously got automatic relief in 2019.
