$3.9 billion in federal student loan debt was dropped in a decision today from the U.S. Department of Education.
The announcement was made that all remaining federal student loans that borrowers received to attend ITT Technical Institute from January 2005 to September 2016 will be discharged without any additional action on the borrower's part.
This affects over 2,440 Colorado borrowers according to the office of Attorney General Phil Weiser.
The decision came from the Department after reviewing findings based on extensive internal records including testimony from the ITT managers and recruiters.
The Department findings included firsthand incidents from the borrowers who were misled when ITT engaged in active misrepresentations related to the ability of students to get a job or transfer credits and lying about the programmatic accreditation of ITT's associate degree in nursing.
"It is time for student borrowers to stop shouldering the burden from ITT's years of lies and false promises," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. "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."
Other universities that are under fire included DeVry University and Kaplan Career Institute.
Today's actions are a part of the White House Administration's broader efforts to create lasting policies making colleges more affordable and ease the growing debt crisis by holding schools accountable.
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