Biden Administration Cancels Student Loans for Cheated Borrowers

 

The U.S. Department of Education said Wednesday that it is cancelling the student loans of thousands of borrowers who attended a big, for-profit college.

The loans were taken by students attending an educational organization called ITT Technical Institute, which had 130 campuses around the country.

The college was found to have made misleading claims about its graduates' success in finding jobs. ITT Technical Institute closed in 2016 after the administration of former president Barack Obama barred it from accepting new students.

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is cancelling 18,000 loans of former students of ITT Technical Institute. The federal government's cost of cancelling the loans is expected to be more than $500 million.

The move marks a step by the Biden administration to deal with a lot of claims made through the borrower defense¹ program. The program was not used often until the Department of Education expanded rules for cancelling loans in 2016. It provides loan forgiveness to students with federal student loans who were defrauded³ by their colleges.

During the administration of former President Donald Trump⁴, the government placed higher requirements for students seeking loan forgiveness. It is estimated that there are now more than 100,000 claims waiting to be processed.

In announcing the new action, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona promised to continue supporting students with claims.

"Our action today will give thousands of borrowers a fresh start and the relief they deserve," Cardona said in a statement.

The action follows an earlier loan cancellation⁵ in March. At that time, the Education Department cancelled $1 billion in federal student loans for 72,000 borrowers. Those claims all came from former students of for-profit colleges.

Activists⁶ were pleased with the new approvals, but called for fast action for thousands of other students with claims.

Alex Elson is vice⁷ president of Student Defense, a Washington legal group. He said the administration appears to want to help the students. But he said he did not understand why officials were slow "to immediately and automatically help the countless⁸ additional borrowers who are still waiting."

Borrower defense is among several education programs targeted for changes by the Biden administration. Cardona is holding a series of hearings this month as his agency considers changes to that policy and others.

Loan forgiveness push in 2016

In 2015, the Education Department received thousands of claims from former students of Corinthian Colleges. The group of for-profit colleges shut down after findings that it lied to students about job placement rates.

After the collapse⁹ of Corinthian and other for-profit colleges, the Obama administration moved to make it easier for students to get loans cancelled. The Trump administration later wrote its own rules. Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said it had become too easy to get loans forgiven.

In March, Cardona withdrew a rule that permitted the Education Department to only partially¹⁰ cancel student loans. All borrowers with approval will now get their loans fully¹¹ cleared.

Many of the 18,000 claims from ITT Tech were approved after the Education Department found that the company lied about graduates' chances of getting a job. The agency said ITT made "repeated and significant misrepresentations" about its ability to help students. In reality, the departments said many students said it was harder to find employment when they listed ITT while seeking jobs.

Other claims were approved after the department found that ITT misled students about their ability to transfer credits to other colleges. Credits were rarely accepted at other colleges, the department noted¹².

Words in This Story

defraud² –v. to trick or cheat someone in order to get money

campus –n. the area around a university, college or school

relief –n. the removal of something that is painful or unpleasant

automatically –adv. done without thought or effort; always done because of a rule or law

significant – adj. very important

transfer –v. to stop going to one school and begin going to another; related to changing the use of something so that it can be used in another place (such as college credits)

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 defraud   

vt.欺骗，欺诈

参考例句：

• He passed himself off as the managing director to defraud the bank.他假冒总经理的名义诈骗银行。
• He is implicated in the scheme to defraud the government.他卷入了这起欺骗政府的阴谋。

3 defrauded   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He defrauded his employers of thousands of dollars. 他诈取了他的雇主一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He defrauded them of their money. 他骗走了他们的钱。 来自辞典例句

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

9 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

10 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。