Biden Cancels $3.9B of ITT Tech Student Loans

Facts

• The Biden admin. said Tues. it would cancel the federal loans of students who attended ITT Technical Institute as far back as 2005 because authorities found "widespread and pervasive misrepresentations" at the for-profit college chain, which closed in 2016.
• This round of loan cancellation forgives $3.9B in debt for 208k borrowers, bringing the total amount the Biden admin. has forgiven to $32B since taking office.
• The debt is being forgiven using a federal rule known as borrower defense, which protects students from institutions that make false advertising claims or commit fraud.
• The Dept. of Education reviewed extensive internal records, testimony from ITT managers and recruiters, and first-hand accounts from borrowers before concluding students had been defrauded.
• Sec. of Education Miguel Cardona said "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."
• This comes as Biden considers a broader plan to cancel the debts of 43M federal student loan borrowers. During his campaign, he pledged to cancel $10k of debt per borrower.

Sources: NPR Online News, Daily Mail, PBS NewsHour, Daily Wire, and CNN.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by CNN. In response to a divisive issue, Biden has taken a targeted approach and, so far, it's worked. He's managed to do more than any prior administration in terms of student debt cancellation, and this latest decision protects students from assuming the burden of a corrupt institution's lies.
• Progressive narrative, as provided by Daily Kos. Though Biden has made significant steps to address this problem, he still needs to go bigger and enact universal loan forgiveness at a level well above the $10k per borrower he's reportedly considering. There are people who actually owe more than they originally borrowed, a sure sign of a broken system that needs to be fixed.
• Progressive narrative, as provided by Fox News. Though Biden has made significant steps to address this problem, he still needs to go bigger and enact universal loan forgiveness at a level well above the $10k per borrower he's reportedly considering. There are people who actually owe more than they originally borrowed, a sure sign of a broken system that needs to be fixed.