Biden's latest student debt forgiveness action affects 3,500 Massachusetts borrowers
BROOKLINE - President Joe Biden's administration announced Wednesday it is forgiving $6.1 billion in federal student debt for people who attended The Art Institutes, and more than 3,500 borrowers who went to one of the chain's for-profit schools in Massachusetts will benefit.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said $80 million in federal loan debt will be discharged for former students of the New England Institute of Art in Brookline.
"Predatory for-profit schools"
The Art Institutes shut down last fall amid allegations of fraud, with a federal investigation finding that fewer than 57% of students found jobs in their fields of study within six months of graduation. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said that students took out billions of dollars worth of loans to attend the schools, but "got little but lies in return."
"These predatory for-profit schools harmed vulnerable students for their own financial gain, leaving student borrowers burdened with debt and without viable job or financial prospects," Campbell said in a statement.
The NEIA filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
"Millions of students, including thousands of Massachusetts students, were taken advantage of by The Art Institutes and had their financial futures threatened," Gov. Maura Healey said. "This will be transformative for these students' lives and benefit our economy as a whole."
Who qualifies for student debt forgiveness?
Students who enrolled in Arts Institutions between January 1, 2004 and October 16, 2017 will have their debt automatically forgiven. Borrowers do not have to take any action or make any further payments.
Biden's push to broadly forgive student loan debt was blocked by the Supreme Court last year. The president said his administration has now been able to forgive $160 billion total for about 4.6 million borrowers.