Joe Biden Student Loan Forgiveness: Are You Qualified for New $130 Million Program?

President Joe Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness program is finally moving forward, as his administration has announced an extra $130 million budget to help thousands of borrowers.

The announcement is in addition to the $39 billion in student debt relief that the Department of Education announced earlier in July. The question now is who qualifies for this additional debt relief?

Students who enrolled at a school that officials accused of making "widespread misrepresentations" are eligible for student loan forgiveness under this new initiative will receive it automatically, per Forbes.

This new relief is part of the federal student loan program known as Borrower Defense to Repayment. It "provides loan forgiveness and other debt relief to borrowers" to those who were defrauded or misled by their respective schools, as found by the Department of Education.

It is estimated that around 7,400 students will qualify for federal student loan forgiveness under this specific initiative. Specifically, however, students who enrolled at Colorado-based locations of CollegeAmerica between January 1, 2006, and July 1, 2020, are the ones who qualify for Borrower Defense to Repayment.

This new regulation took effect last July 1 and it made it easier for the Department of Education to grant group discharges to similarly-situated borrowers without the need to review individual applications. The Borrower Defense to Repayment regulations also broadens which types of school misconduct can qualify borrowers for student loan forgiveness.

CollegeAmerica Knowingly Defrauded Students, Leading to Joe Biden's Latest Student Loan Forgiveness

CollegeAmerica closed down completely in 2021 after it was sued by the state of Colorado. It had three locations in the state and state AG Attorney General Phil Weiser stated, "CollegeAmerica knowingly took advantage of students by luring them into high-priced, low-quality programs with promises of high-earning potential and job placement that it knew were not attainable."

The school was operated by the Center for Excellence in Higher Education, according to ABC News. It sued the Department of Education last year after it claimed that it was "improperly targeted" and the government "illegally withheld funds such as reimbursements for student financial aid."

With this new round of student loan forgiveness, Joe Biden then took this chance to take a swipe at Donald Trump, saying, While my predecessor looked the other way when colleges defrauded students and borrowers -- I promised to take this on directly, and provide borrowers with the relief they need and deserve." The POTUS added, "As long as I am president, we will never stop fighting to deliver relief to borrowers, hold bad actors accountable, and bring the promise of college to more Americans."

What Did CollegeAmerica Do?

In a press release, the Department of Education stated that the college advertised that students would earn high salaries post-grad. However, in reality, graduates earned just $25,000 on average, and this is less than the salaries of high school graduates.

The college also "inflated and falsified job placement rates" of 70%, which is far from its real numbers, which is just around 40%. "This included counting a business administration graduate working as a produce clerk and a medical specialties graduate working as a waiter as successful placements," said the press release.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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