The Department of Education last week announced it was canceling $6 billion in student loan debt and issuing refunds for attendees of shuttered for-profit colleges as part of a settlement in a class-action lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in Theresa Sweet v. Miguel Cardona filed for debt relief under the "borrower defense to loan repayment" program. Created by the Obama administration, borrower defense allows the Education Department to forgive the federal student loan debt of students who can show they were defrauded by the school they attended. Under the Trump administration, the Education Department's evaluation of borrower defense applications slowed to a halt. In response, former students of the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges sued Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for "unlawfully withholding or unreasonably delaying action on Plaintiffs' applications." Miguel Cardona, President Joe Biden's education secretary, then became the defendant.
