It’s been nearly five months since former ITT Technical Institute students received a glimmer of hope that their student loan debt would be forgiven. Today they are still waiting.
The U.S. Department of Education announced on Jan. 13 that former ITT students — people who graduated or dropped out of the for-profit now defunct college chain long before the Obama administration forced it into bankruptcy — had a chance to get their federal student loans forgiven through a process called borrower defense to repayment.
In a statement, the Education Department said “approvals are beginning” for those students who claimed ITT defrauded them.
That work appears to have stopped altogether. Although the government issued letters to some students promising loan forgiveness within the 120 days, there is no evidence that the Education Department has forgiven loans for any former ITT students since President Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
This is just the latest setback for former ITT Tech students who say they were lured in with false promises and left with a mountain of debt (five- and six-figure student loan debt), few marketable skills and limited job prospects.
Several Democratic senators are seeking answers. U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Chuck Schumer of New York, Patty Murray of Washington, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts last week sent a letter to DeVos requesting information on borrower defense claims.
The senators are asking the Dept. of Education to provide detailed information regarding loan forgiveness applications and approvals for past students of ITT, along with two other failed for-profit college chains: Corinthian Colleges and American Career Institute.
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