WASHINGTON — The Biden administration plans to forgive loans for an estimated 560,000 former students of Corinthian Colleges, a group of for-profit schools that Vice President Kamala Harris helped put out of business when she was attorney general of California, a senior administration official said Wednesday.
Harris, who won a judgment of more than $1.2-billion against the Santa Ana-based company for false advertising in 2016, plans to formally announce the loan forgiveness Thursday at the Department of Education. The department will absorb the estimated $5.8-billion cost of the federal outstanding loans. The administration said it’s the largest single loan discharge made by the department in its history. The debt forgiveness would not apply to private loans.
Former students of any of the former colleges owned by Corinthian — including Heald, Everest College, WyoTech and Everest College Phoenix — will have their loans canceled automatically. They will not need to apply.
