WASHINGTON (AP) – A government plan to wipe out loans for many of the students who attended the now-disgraced for-profit Corinthian Colleges raises serious questions about whether the White House or Congress should have done more to prevent the debacle.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Monday announced that the government would make it easier for former Corinthian students to erase their debt. About $3.6 billion in federal loans has been given to these students since 2010. That potentially puts the taxpayer on the hook for that amount, although officials say it’s unlikely that every loan will qualify for relief.
At the very least, the government is looking at footing the bill for hundreds of millions of dollars in student debt in what has become a major consumer bailout.