On August 30, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education announced that $1.5 billion of student loan debt will be discharged under the borrower defense to repayment rule for 79,000 defrauded borrowers who attended Westwood College.
This student debt relief is in addition to the Biden Administration's cancellation of $10,000 in federal student loan debt ($20,000 if you went to college on Pell Grants) for those earning less than $125,000 per year.
Who Qualifies for a Westwood College Loan Discharge
The Department said it will discharge all remaining federal student loans for borrowers who enrolled in any location of Westwood College, including enrollment in an online program, between January 1, 2002 through November 17, 2015. The school stopped enrolling new students on that date and shut its doors in 2016.
Around 79,000 borrowers, whether or not they've applied for a borrower defense discharge, will get relief. You don't have to take any additional steps to get a discharge.
Westwood College's Conduct Leading to the Student Loan Discharges
The Education Department found that Westwood misled prospective students by misrepresenting that its credentials would help students' career options and earning potential. Specifically, Westwood promised that potential students would be employed in their field within six months after graduation and that a Westwood degree would make them "employable for the rest of [their lives]."
The Education Department also found that Westwood made widespread, substantial misrepresentations to students that its criminal justice program would allow them to get jobs as police officers in Illinois. But Westwood didn't have the accreditation necessary to meet state employment requirements.
Other Student Loan Relief Under the Biden Administration
The Department of Education under President Biden has canceled billions of dollars in federal student loan debt. In addition to the payment relief discussed in this article, the administration has announced that:
72,000 student loan borrowers who previously had part of their federal student loans canceled under a "borrower defense to repayment" claim willget full student loan relief
about 41,000 borrowers whose federal student loans were discharged due to total and permanent disability and then reinstatedwill get a discharge
$500 million of student loan debt for 18,000 student loan borrowerswho attended ITT Technical Institutewould be canceled under the borrower defense to repayment rule
$415 millionin loans will be canceled for defrauded DeVry University students
it implemented a new online Public Service Loan Forgivenessappeal and reconsideration processfor payment counts and employer qualification
the Department was makingone-time account adjustmentsto retroactively credit millions of borrowers with additional payments toward loan forgiveness
it willautomatically dischargeall remaining federal student loans for those who attended any campus that Corinthian Colleges owned or operated
it will automatically discharge the federal student loans of around 200,000 people tosettle a class-action lawsuit, and
it willcancel $3.9 billionof student loan debt for 208,000 borrowers who attended ITT Technical Institute.
Also, the American Rescue Plan Act exempts student debt forgiveness from federal taxation until January 1, 2026, and covers Direct Loans, FFELs, and private student loans. (Forgiven amounts might be taxable in some states.)