The Department of Education has canceled more than $9 billion in student loan debt since President Biden has come into office with moves that will affect more than 563,000 borrowers, The Hill reported. The agency confirmed the new top-line figure upon its recent announcement detailing its cancellation of $1.1 billion in debt for 115,000 borrowers that attended ITT Technical Institute, which is now defunct. The department said borrowers receiving relief attended ITT during a period in which the institution misrepresented its finances and misled students about “unaffordable private loans that were allegedly portrayed as grant aid.” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said ITT, which closed permanently in 2016, "hid its true financial state from borrowers" for years "while luring many of them into taking out private loans with misleading and unaffordable terms that may have caused borrowers to leave school." Cardona extended the window for relief to March 31, 2008, after a review by the agency into events that led to the closure of the institution, as well as filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the company’s bankruptcy court proceedings.
