Student loan forgiveness is a rallying cry from the progressives on the political Left, and it appears that the Biden administration heeded their base’s call. The Department of Education said it will cancel student loans for almost 16,000 borrowers who attended specific for-profit schools, such as DeVry University.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said, “The Department remains committed to giving borrowers discharges when the evidence shows their college violated the law and standards.” He continued, “Students count on their colleges to be truthful… Unfortunately, today’s findings show too many instances in which students were misled into loans at institutions or programs that could not deliver what they’d promised.”
The education agency affirmed that DeVry University, among other for-profit schools, misled students when it claimed that 90% of its graduates are employed within six months of graduation. However, the statistics pointed out that the employment rate was around 58%.
DeVry University disagreed with the agency’s assessment and noted that they have changed their practices since the federal government first levied these serious claims against them. “We do believe that the Department of Education mischaracterizes DeVry’s calculation and disclosure of graduate outcomes in certain advertising, and we do not agree with the conclusions they have reached,” a spokesperson said.
CNBC reported on the student loan cancellation policy and how the administration has forgiven about $2 billion in student loans on behalf of 100,000 students.
The Left and progressives have railed against for-profit schools ever since the Obama administration. Much of their criticism focused on the allegedly-false claims of job placements after graduation, without addressing similar problems that traditional, four-year colleges and universities have. These left-wing critics conveniently ignore the paltry graduation rates of community college students, which hover around or below 50% at some community colleges, in addition to the lackluster support for and high drop-out rates of minority students at four-year colleges.
