Student Defense Statement on Debt Relief for Former ITT Students

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 16, 2022

MEDIA CONTACT:
press@defendstudents.org | 202-734-7495

Student Defense Statement on Debt Relief for Former ITT Students

Today, the U.S. Department of Education approved Borrower Defense to Repayment claims for a group of former ITT Technical Institute Students. Student Defense Senior Counsel Libby DeBlasio Webster issued the following statement in response:

“Nearly 6 years after ITT shut down, many of the students it ripped off are finally getting the relief they’re owed. This is a life-changing announcement for thousands of people who only wanted to improve their lives and trusted the wrong people to help them do it. We commend the Biden Administration for doing the right thing, and we hope this is a sign that it plans to approve additional borrower defense claims in several other pending applications where state attorneys general have demonstrated that student borrowers are entitled to relief.”

Additional Background:
Last year, the Department of Education granted closed school discharges worth more than $1 billion to over 100,000 former ITT students by extending the attendance eligibility window. That move closely mirrored a proposal from Student Defense’s 100 Day Docket.

Student Defense has also aggressively advocated for the Department to automatically process Borrower Defense claims where state attorneys general have submitted evidence of schools’ wrongdoing. In May, Student Defense filed a lawsuit with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the National Consumer Law Center to force the Department to rule on a group borrower defense claim filed by the Illinois Attorney General on behalf of former Westwood College students.