Attorney General Healey asks Federal DOE to Forgive Student Loan

Attorney General Maura Healey and top law enforcement officials for eight other states have sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

In the letter, they have asked the authority to forgive the student loan debt for students who became victim to unjust and misleading practices of for-profit schools.

“These are situations where students are simply seeking a way to better themselves, and they get lured in by these false promises, and then they’re on the hook for $15,000, $20, 000”, affirmed Healey.

Healey and the officials said that students at schools operated by Corinthian Colleges, Everest Institute in Chelsea and Brighton were taken advantage of and their federal loan debt should be ended. They also affirmed that welfare and education of students was not the priority of these schools.

Last year, Corinthian has agreed for an agreement with the Department of Education that it should sell its campuses or close them. The AG has failed a case against Corinthian a year ago. In the case, it alleged that students were not given the right information about the track record of the school. It was claimed that students were pressured to accept loans.

The AG has also targeted three other for-profit schools. As per Healey, many other schools are under investigation. A spokesman for Corinthian affirmed that Corinthian does not agree with the allegations and is disputing them. The spokesman said that it continues to believe that its schools provide significant value for its students.

The letter has asked the Department of Education to develop a framework for students of other schools that are considered to be wrong. The predatory practices have left a number of students in financial problem.