The Department of Education will cancel student loans and restore Pell grant eligibility for students who attended the Art Institute of Colorado or the Illinois Institute of Art between January 20, 2018 and December 31, 2018, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced on Friday.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVosIt will also extend the closed school discharge lookback period to June 29, 2018 for these schools and other closed for-profit colleges owned by Dream Center Education Holdings. Normally, students who left a school up to 120 days before its closing are eligible to apply for loan forgiveness, along with enrolled students. But the 120-day window can be broadened at the discretion of the education secretary. In this case, it’s expected to help 300 additional borrowers.
“The department is committed to holding institutions and accreditors accountable to the students they serve,” DeVos said in a statement. “In this instance, students were failed and deserve to be made whole.”
More than 1,500 borrowers attended the Art Institute of Colorado or the Illinois Institute of Art, which closed at the end of last year. The department estimates 4,000 loans will be canceled.
