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The U.S. Division of Schooling on Tuesday introduced it should cancel all remaining federal pupil debt for former college students of the now-defunct for-profit Westwood School, delivering $1.5 billion in aid to 79,000 debtors.
The cancellation covers college students who attended any location of Westwood School, together with on-line packages, from Jan. 1, 2002 to Nov. 17, 2015, when the varsity stopped enrollment forward of its 2016 closure.
The forgiveness will occur routinely, no matter whether or not former college students have utilized for a borrower protection discharge, the Schooling Division mentioned.
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“Westwood School’s exploitation of scholars and abuse of federal monetary support place it in the identical circle of infamy occupied by Corinthian Schools and ITT Technical Institute,” mentioned Below Secretary James Kvaal within the announcement. “Westwood operated on a tradition of false guarantees, lies and manipulation in an effort to revenue off pupil debt that burdened debtors lengthy after Westwood closed.”
The division discovered the varsity routinely misled potential college students by “grossly misrepresenting” the worth of its credentials, together with inflated job placement charges and earnings potential.
What’s extra, Westwood School supplied college students with a false “employment pledge,” vowing to assist attendees with post-graduation payments in the event that they weren’t employed inside six months, the findings present.
Increased schooling knowledgeable Mark Kantrowitz instructed CNBC the newest discharge is “a continuation of the work that the Division of Schooling has accomplished, utilizing current pupil mortgage forgiveness and discharge packages to handle inequities.”
The Division has now accepted $14.5 billion in pupil mortgage cancellation for almost 1.1 million debtors whose faculties took benefit of them, based on the discharge.
“The Biden-Harris Administration will proceed ramping up oversight and accountability to guard college students and taxpayers from abuse and be certain that executives who commit such hurt by no means work at establishments that obtain federal monetary support once more,” Kvaal added.
