About 18,000 Pennsylvanians who attended The Art Institute will get $345 million in debt relief
HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA) -- More than $345 million in debt will be forgiven for about 18,000 Pennsylvanians who attended The Art Institute, the state attorney general announced on Monday.
The Biden administration last week announced it would forgive $6.1 billion in student debt for 317,000 people who attended The Art Institute, which was a for-profit chain of schools that shut down last fall following fraud allegations.
According to the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, a federal Department of Education investigation found The Art Institute and its parent company made "pervasive and substantial misrepresentations" about its post-graduation employment rates, salaries and career services.
"The school's misconduct burdened borrowers with high amounts of debt without the advertised employment opportunities or salaries necessary to pay," the attorney general's office said.
All Art Institute campuses, including the one in Pittsburgh, have closed. When the Art Institute of Pittsburgh shut down in 2019, about 2,000 were reportedly enrolled online while another 230 attended classes in the Strip District.
The attorney general's office said Pennsylvania, along with Iowa and Massachusetts, provided evidence to the Department of Education to help with the investigation.
What action do Pennsylvania borrowers have to take?
Borrowers who attended The Art Institute between 2004 and 2017 will receive discharges of loan balances. The group discharge will automatically provide relief.
Borrowers don't need to take any action, the attorney general's office says.
The Department of Education began notifying eligible borrowers this week that they're approved for a loan discharge. The Department of Education will also pause loans so borrowers won't have to keep paying.
"When the discharges are processed, borrowers will see any remaining loan balances adjusted and the associated credit lines deleted. Payments eligible borrowers made to the DoE on their related federal student loans will also be refunded," the attorney general's office explained.