ITT Tech students, including more than 1,300 in Minnesota, have their federal debt cancelled
MINNEAPOLIS -- More than 1,300 Minnesota students who attended ITT Technical Institute will have their federal student debt cancelled.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Tuesday that the Biden Administration has moved to cancel federal debt for students who attended the for-profit college between 2005 and 2016, when ITT Technical Institute went bankrupt following accusations that it defrauded students.
The Biden Administration's action comes after a months-long investigation into for-profit colleges by attorneys general from several states, including Minnesota.
According to Ellison's office, 1,380 Minnesota students borrowed to attend ITT Technical Institute, which promised customers high-paying jobs after graduation, although the degrees were virtually worthless. After the business folded, the students were saddled with debt.
"Minnesotans take out federal student loans in good faith to help themselves and their families get ahead — and ITT Tech took advantage of them," Ellison said, in a statement.
The Minnesota students are among more than 200,000 former ITT Technical Institute students to have their debt canceled. The amount eliminated nationwide is nearly $4 billion.
In June, the Biden Administration also eliminated roughly $6 billion in federal debt for students who attended the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges, another for-profit college chain, The New York Times reports.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has days to decide on whether or not to extend the federal student loan payment pause, which started at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020.
Biden has until Aug. 31 to extended the pause or payments will restart in September.