Beginning this month, the Obama administration will forgive nearly $28 million in federal student loans for 1,312 former Corinthian Colleges students who say the defunct for-profit chain violated their rights, the Washington Post reported on Friday. The move marks the first major step the Education Department has taken in resolving thousands of defense-to-repayment claims, a petition for the government to discharge federal loans on the grounds that a school used illegal or deceptive tactics in violation of state law to persuade students to borrow. Advocates say the department is still taking too long to approve claims, while some policymakers worry that the government is on a path to losing billions of dollars in taxpayer money. On Thursday, the independent monitor appointed to oversee the process, Joseph A. Smith, said that his team focused on claims from people who attended Corinthian’s Heald Colleges, the heart of a $30 million fine the department levied against the company in April for falsifying job rates. The established evidence in Heald case made it easier to grant relief to Heald students, Smith said. The monitor reviewed 1,670 claims from Heald students, 358 of which remain under consideration.
