The U.S. Department of Education (ED) granted federal loan forgiveness to former ITT Technical Institute students in a settlement voiding $141.6 million in student loans among 7,190 Virginians, after findings that the school falsely advertised the value of its degrees.
“Attending higher education is a big decision, and a sacrifice for many Virginians,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a press release. “No institution should lie to prospective students or mislead them about jobs and future opportunities. I’m proud of my Office’s work to protect Virginia consumers and to seek forgiveness of the remaining student debt for those Virginians taken advantage of.”
A summary from the ED states that for years, ITT misrepresented graduate employment prospects, average earnings of graduates, job placement rates, and the transferability of its credits, and also misled associates degree nursing students about accreditation. Two dozen states including Virginia, along with Washington D.C., filed borrower defense applications seeking cancellation of the debt.
“Based on all the evidence reviewed from numerous sources, BDG [the Borrower Defense Group] concluded that nearly all borrowers who attended any ITT campus after 2005 would have been subject to employment prospects misrepresentations. BDG also concluded that a large percentage of ITT borrowers were subject to additional misrepresentations, which provide further bases for granting
discharges,” the summary states.
On Tuesday, the ED announced the loan discharges, totaling $3.9 billion across 208,000 borrowers nationally.
“It is time for student borrowers to stop shouldering the burden from ITT’s years of lies and false promises,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a release. “The evidence shows that for years, ITT’s leaders intentionally misled students about the quality of their programs in order to profit off federal student loan programs, with no regard for the hardship this would cause. The Biden-Harris administration will continue to stand up for borrowers who’ve been cheated by their colleges, while working to strengthen oversight and enforcement to protect today’s students from similar deception and abuse.”
– – –
Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “ITT Technical Institute Building” by Dwight Burdette. CC BY 3.0.
