Education Department Approves $415 Million in Borrower Defense Claims Including for Former DeVry University Students.

U.S. Department of Education

February 16, 2022

Contact:   Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov

Nearly 16,000 borrowers will receive $415 million in borrower defense to repayment discharges following the approval of four new findings and the continued review of claims. This includes approximately 1,800 former DeVry University (DeVry) students who will receive approximately $71.7 million in full borrower defense discharges after the U.S. Department of Education (Department) determined that the institution made widespread substantial misrepresentations about its job placement rates. These are the first approved borrower defense claims associated with a currently operating institution, and the Department will seek to recoup the cost of the discharges from DeVry. The Department anticipates that the number of approved claims related to DeVry will increase as it continues reviewing pending applications.

In addition to the DeVry findings, the Department is announcing several other actions that will provide an additional approximately $343.7 million in borrower defense discharges to almost 14,000 borrowers. This includes new findings related to Westwood College and the nursing program at ITT Technical Institute, as well as recent findings about the criminal justice programs at Minnesota School of Business/Globe University and another $284.5 million in discharges to over 11,900 students who attended institutions such as Corinthian Colleges and Marinello Schools of Beauty whose applications were reviewed after earlier announcements of relief.

“The Department remains committed to giving borrowers discharges when the evidence shows their college violated the law and standards,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Students count on their colleges to be truthful. Unfortunately, today’s findings show too many instances in which students were misled into loans at institutions or programs that could not deliver what they’d promised.”

Today’s actions bring the total amount of approved relief under borrower defense to repayment to approximately $2 billion for more than 107,000 borrowers.

“When colleges and career schools put their own interests ahead of students, we will not look the other way,” said Federal Student Aid Chief Operating Officer Richard Cordray. “We are grateful to have strong enforcement and oversight partners, such as the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general in Colorado, Illinois, and New Mexico. These offices provided key evidence that played a significant role in reaching the findings announced today. Moving forward, we intend to expand our collaboration with federal and state partners to serve students.”

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