<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1645113399735.jpeg" alt="Dr. Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Education" />
 <figcaption>Dr. Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Education</figcaption>
 </figure>By ARIANA FIGUEROA <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/02/16/students-defrauded-by-for-profit-colleges-to-get-millions-in-loan-repayments/">States Newsroom</a>WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of 
Education announced Wednesday that nearly 16,000 student borrowers would
 receive millions in loan repayments, after the department found that 
four private for-profit institutions made misleading claims about their 
job placement rates.“The Department remains committed to 
giving borrowers discharges when the evidence shows their college 
violated the law and standards,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel 
Cardona said in a statement.“Students count on their colleges to 
be truthful. Unfortunately, today’s findings show too many instances in 
which students were misled into loans at institutions or programs that 
could not deliver what they’d promised.”Cardona said this was part of the 
Department of Education’s targeted borrower defense policy, which 
provides relief to students who are found to have been defrauded.The four institutions include DeVry 
University, which is based in Illinois, but has 40 locations in 18 
states; Westwood College, based in Colorado, which closed in 2016; ITT 
Nursing, based in Indiana, which filed for bankruptcy in 2016; and the 
Minnesota School of Business/Globe University, which closed in 2017.“Today marks the first findings 
against a school, DeVry University, that is open and still enrolling new
 students,” federal student aid chief operating officer Richard Cordray,
 representing the department, said during a call with reporters.Cordray said that students who 
attended DeVry University from 2008 to 2015 can file claims to the 
department. DeVry asserted that 90% of its students who graduated found 
employment, when the job placement rate was really about 58%.The department will approve $71.1 million in borrower defense charges for about 1,800 former DeVry students.“In this case, we reviewed 
considerable evidence showing that DeVry substantially misstated its job
 placement rates, and the likelihood of students finding new jobs in 
their field of study after graduation,” he said.Officials at DeVry could not be reached for comment.Cordray said that from 2007 to 2016, 
officials from ITT Technical Institute lied to students seeking to 
enroll in its associate nursing degree program.“The program was not accredited,” he 
said. “And students were unable to get the benefit they were promised 
from their courses (of) study.”The department plans to approve about $3 million to 130 students. 
This is the fourth time the department has issued discharges to students
 who attended that institution, for a combined $660 million in 
discharges for about 23,000 students who attended ITT Tech during those 
years.Student borrowers who attended the 
criminal justice programs at the Minnesota School of Business and/or 
Globe University will be entitled to full borrower defense discharges, 
department officials said. The department has already approved about $3 
million in discharges for 270 students.The department is also approving 
$284.5 million in discharges to more than 11,900 student borrowers who 
attended beauty schools such as Corinthian Colleges, which closed in 
2015, and Marinello Schools of Beauty, which closed in 2015.Cordray said the department also 
found that Westwood College misled student about graduate job placement 
rates of 80% or higher and falsely claimed that graduates would make 
salaries of $50,000 or more. The department found that the salary data 
was based on national federal data and that graduates of the institution
 made half or less of those salary claims.The Department of Education will approve about $53.1 million for 1,600 student borrowers who submit those claims.During the Biden administration, the Education Department has distributed more than $2 billion in borrower defense discharges.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/over-323000-federal-student-loan-borrowers-receive-58-billion-automatic-total-and-permanent-disability-discharges">Last year</a>,
 the department announced that more than 323,000 borrowers who have a 
permanent disability would receive $5.8 million in automatic student 
loan discharges.The Biden administration has <a target="_blank" href="https://newjerseymonitor.com/2021/12/17/biden-administration-resists-democrats-pleas-on-student-debt-relief-as-deadline-nears/">resisted</a> lawmakers’ call to cancel up to $50,000 worth of federal student loan debt per student. The Federal Reserve <a target="_blank" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SLOAS">estimates</a> that the total U.S. student loan debt is more than $1.75 trillion. The Department of Education <a target="_blank" href="https://studentaid.gov/data-center/student/portfolio">owns about 92% </a>of that student loan debt.White House press secretary Jen Psaki
 said during a Tuesday briefing that Biden has “forgiven $15 billion in 
student loans, benefiting more than 675,000 student loan borrowers since
 he took office.”As part of Biden’s campaign platform,
 he said he would forgive up to $10,000 per student in federal student 
loans, but he has not directed the Department of Education to make that 
change. Biden has said he wants Congress to put forth legislation to 
cancel up to $10,000 worth of debt per student for him to sign into law.Psaki also pointed to the pause on student loan repayment due to the coronavirus pandemic.“No one has been required to pay a 
single dime in federal student loans, and he extended the hiatus of 
payment until May to give people some extra breathing room,” she said.

Students defrauded by for-profit colleges to get millions in loan repayments