Biden administration will cancel student debt for half a million students from Corinthian Colleges

The Biden administration plans to cancel all outstanding student loans for those who attended schools operated by Corinthian Colleges, formerly one of the largest for-profit education companies, the U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday.

The schools have been accused of predatory and unlawful practices, and faced lawsuits from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as well as Vice President Kamala Harris when she was attorney general of California. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015.

Around 560,000 borrowers stand to benefit from the debt cancellation, which will come out to around $5.8 billion. That’s the largest single debt forgiveness action taken by the government to date. 

“As of today, every student deceived, defrauded, and driven into debt by Corinthian Colleges can rest assured that the Biden-Harris administration has their back and will discharge their federal student loans,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

Corinthian was founded in 1995, and by 2010, it had enrolled more than 100,000 students across 100 campuses.

Former students of the colleges who still have a student loan balance should be refunded for previous payments made on their debt, senior administration officials said Wednesday.