Lawyers for an ad-hoc student group, seeking to represent the interests of about 500,000 former students of the recently collapsed Corinthian Colleges Inc., have asked that a special committee be formed to press the students’ claims and ensure their participation in bankruptcy proceedings that will affect their futures, the New York Times reported today. Scott Gautier, bankruptcy counsel for the ad hoc student group, estimated the students’ claims at $25 billion or more, and said that an official student creditors’ committee would help the students focus on redress, including student loan forgiveness or programs to help them with education and job placement. “We believe that collective treatment is not only proper, but the most efficient and effective way” to handle the claims, he said.
