拜登政府周二表示，这是为7400名学生免除了1 . 3亿美元的联邦债务他去了一所政府声称对其成功撒了谎的科罗拉多大学。
美国总统乔·拜登在一份声明中说:“这些借款人被骗了，被骗了，还背上了堆积如山的债务。”。
这不是政府第一次取消政府认为被营利性大学误导或欺骗的人的联邦贷款:到目前为止，教育部已经免除了147亿美元的此类债务，涉及近110万借款人，包括那些曾就读于科林蒂安学院和ITT理工学院的人，这两家学校现已停业。
周二的债务减免将是自动的，涵盖2006年至2020年7月1日期间就读于美国大学的科罗拉多州学生。
努力债务减免行动也紧随其后对于参与公共服务贷款免除计划和收入驱动的偿还贷款计划的人来说，这两个计划都是教育部承认的，没有为借款人发挥应有的作用.
根据教育部的数据，CollegeAmerica在科罗拉多州有三个地点，在该州提起的一场成功的诉讼后，于2021年完全关闭。(高等教育卓越中心随后提出上诉。)
科罗拉多州总检察长菲尔·魏泽在周二的新闻发布会上说:“美国大学故意利用学生，引诱他们参加高价、低质量的项目，承诺高收入潜力和工作安置，而他们知道这些是不可能实现的。”
他说:“保护借款人免受掠夺性贷款，帮助科罗拉多人度过学生贷款负担将继续是我们办公室的首要任务。”
无法联系到管理CollegeAmerica的高等教育卓越中心发表评论。该组织去年起诉了教育部，声称联邦政府不恰当地针对他们的学校，并非法扣留资金，如偿还学生助学金。教育部正试图驳回诉讼。
2023年7月25日，乔·拜登总统在华盛顿白宫东厅发表讲话。
苏珊·沃尔什/美联社
“虽然我的前任在大学欺诈学生和借款人时睁一只眼闭一只眼，但我承诺直接应对这一问题，并为借款人提供他们需要和应该得到的救济，”拜登在周二的声明中说，抨击前总统唐纳德·特朗普。“只要我是总统，我们将永远不会停止努力，为借款人提供救济，追究坏人的责任，并为更多的美国人带来大学教育的承诺。”
根据教育部的说法，在其他错误陈述中美国在广告中宣传学生毕业后将获得高薪，而事实上，毕业五年的毕业生平均收入仅为25，000美元，比高中毕业生的工资还低。
CollegeAmerica还公布了70%的“夸大和伪造的就业安置率”，尽管教育部称实际比例仅为40%的一半多一点。
教育部说:“这包括把一名工商管理毕业生作为一名店员工作，一名医学专业毕业生作为一名服务员工作，作为成功的安置。”
根据该部门的说法，在另外两个例子中，CollegeAmerica在2006年至2010年期间虚假地声称，其一个项目可以“获得EMT认证”，尽管“它从未在科罗拉多州的校区开设EMT课程”，而这些课程将有资格参加该州的认证考试。教育部表示，从2007年到2017年，尽管知道“学生无法负担贷款”，但美国大学称财政援助计划EduPlan是“负担得起的”。
债务减免是在政府进行了多年调查后出台的。
教育部表示，无论借款人是否提交了还款申请，他们的联邦贷款都将被取消。人们可以填写这份申请表来举报学校误导他们的入学者。
该部门表示，如果他们被批准取消与CollegeAmerica相关的贷款，人们将在8月份开始收到通知，并看到任何剩余的贷款余额被清零，信贷交易额度被删除，他们向该部门支付的任何款项都将被退还。
Biden admin canceling $130M in debt for students who it says were 'ripped off' by Colorado college
The Biden administration on Tuesday said it wascanceling $130 million in federal debt for 7,400 studentswho went to a Colorado college that the government says lied about its successes.
"These borrowers were lied to, ripped off and saddled with mountains of debt," President Joe Biden said in a statement.
It's not the first time the administration has canceled federal loans for people whom the government believes were misled or short-changed by for-profit colleges: So far, the Department of Education has forgiven $14.7 billion in such debt, spread across nearly 1.1 million borrowers, including for those who attended Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute, both of which are now defunct.
Tuesday's debt relief will be automatic and covers Colorado students of CollegeAmerica who attended between 2006 and July 1, 2020.
The effortalso comes on the heels of debt relief actionsfor people who participated in programs like the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and income-driven repayment loan plans, both of which, the Department of Education has acknowledged,were not working as intended for borrowers.
CollegeAmerica had three locations in Colorado and closed down completely in 2021 after a successful lawsuit brought by the state, according to the Department of Education. (Center for Excellence in Higher Education subsequently appealed.)
"CollegeAmerica knowingly took advantage of students by luring them into high-priced, low-quality programs with promises of high-earning potential and job placement that it knew were not attainable," Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a Tuesday news release.
"Protecting borrowers from predatory lending and helping Coloradans navigate through student loan burdens will continue to be a priority for our office," he said.
The Center for Excellence in Higher Education, which operated CollegeAmerica, could not be reached for comment. The organization sued the Department of Education last year, claiming that the federal government improperly targeted their schools and illegally withheld funds such as reimbursements for student financial aid. The Department of Education is seeking to dismiss the suit.
"While my predecessor looked the other way when colleges defrauded students and borrowers -- I promised to take this on directly, and provide borrowers with the relief they need and deserve," Biden said in his Tuesday statement, swiping at former President Donald Trump. "As long as I am president, we will never stop fighting to deliver relief to borrowers, hold bad actors accountable, and bring the promise of college to more Americans."
According to the Department of Education,among other misrepresentations, CollegeAmerica was advertising that students would earn high salaries post-grad, when, in fact, graduates earned just $25,000, on average, five years out of school -- less than the salaries of high school graduates.
CollegeAmerica also advertised "inflated and falsified job placement rates" of 70%, though the Department of Education said the actual rate was just over half that -- 40%.
"This included counting a business administration graduate working as a produce clerk and a medical specialties graduate working as a waiter as successful placements," the Department of Education said.
In two other examples, according to the department, CollegeAmerica falsely maintained from 2006 to 2010 that one of its programs could "lead to EMT certification" even though "it never offered EMT classes at its Colorado campuses" that would qualify for the state's certification test. And from 2007 until 2017, CollegeAmerica described a financial assistance program, EduPlan, as "affordable" despite knowing "students were unable to afford [the] loans," the department said.
The debt relief comes after a multiyear government investigation.
Borrowers will have their federal loans canceled regardless of whether they have filed a borrower defense to repayment application, the Department of Education said. That application is a form people can fill out to report schools for misleading their enrollees.
People will begin to be notified in August if they are approved for cancellation related to CollegeAmerica and see any remaining loan balances zeroed out as well as credit trade lines deleted, the department said, and any payments they made to the department will be refunded.
