On March 18, the U.S. Education Department (ED) announced that roughly 72,000 student loan borrowers who were defrauded by “diploma mill” for-profit colleges would get full relief on their outstanding debt, as opposed to the partial means-tested relief awarded during the tenure of former Secretary Betsy DeVos. This could grant up to $1 billion to students who attended for-profit college chains Corinthian and ITT Technical Institute.
Borrower advocates were largely gratified by the fulfillment of a promise that Barack Obama’s ED made back in 2015. But there was an undercurrent in the reactions, summed up by one phrase: “good first step.” Hundreds of thousands of other borrowers who suffered fraud at the hands of their schools have not seen their claims approved or even moved along. “We look forward to the Department continuing to use all its legal authorities to provide relief,” wrote Alexis Goldstein of Americans for Financial Reform in a statement.
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