Seventy-two thousand student loan borrowers could breathe a sigh of relief Thursday, after the Department of Education announced they will have the entirety of their debt forgiven.
The move only applies to borrowers whose claims have already been approved under something called borrower defense to repayment, a federal law that allows students to have their loans cancelled if they attended a school that closed suddenly or was proven to take part in illegal or deceptive practices, such as ITT Technical Institute or Corinthian Colleges. The law was bolstered by the Obama administration in 2016.
Under President Trump, however, then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made it harder for such students to have their debts forgiven. DeVos said the law was too generous to student loan borrowers and too costly for taxpayers.