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Student loan borrowers and advocates gather at People's Rally to Cancel Student Loan Debt during a Supreme Court hearing on student debt relief in Washington, D.C., February 28, 2023.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for People's Assembly
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Jemal Countess/Getty Images for People's Assembly
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Student loan borrowers and advocates gather at People's Rally to Cancel Student Loan Debt during a Supreme Court hearing on student debt relief in Washington, D.C., February 28, 2023.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for People's Assembly
President Biden announced Wednesday that the White House will forgive more than $6.1 billion in student loan debt for 317,000 students attending The Art Institutes, a U.S. system of private art schools that closed last year.
“This institution falsified data, intentionally misled students, and defrauded borrowers into mountains of debt without promising career prospects at the end of their studies,” Biden said in a statement.
The president added, “We will not stop fighting to provide relief to borrowers, hold bad actors accountable, and make college education accessible to more Americans.”
The relief will apply to students enrolled in the school system between January 1, 2004 and October 16, 2017. During this time, the U.S. Department of Education found that The Art Institutes “made widespread and material misrepresentations to prospective students about their employment rates after graduation.” They will be provided with salary and job services during that time, according to a statement from the DOE.
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DOE will immediately begin notifying borrowers eligible for forgiveness, including those who have not formally applied for borrower defense. Any amounts previously paid on student loans will also be refunded. The total amount available averages about $19,000 per borrower.
This round of student loan forgiveness brings the total approved by the Biden administration to nearly $160 billion for nearly 4.6 million borrowers, averaging nearly $35,000 per student.