Education Department cancels $3.9 billion in loan debt for students who attended ITT Technical Institute

The U.S. Department of Education says it is discharging all remaining federal student loans that borrowers received to attend ITT Technical Institute in Carmel, Ind., from 2005 through its closure in September 2016. 

The decision will grant relief to 208,000 borrowers who owed nearly $3.9 billion in loans, the department says in a news release. 

 Borrowers will have the federal student loans they received to attend ITT wiped out without any additional action on their part.

"It is time for student borrowers to stop shouldering the burden from ITT's years of lies and false promises," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. "The evidence shows that for years, ITT's leaders intentionally misled students about the quality of their programs in order to profit off federal student loan programs, with no regard for the hardship this would cause."

The Education Department is also working to establish new regulations that will permanently improve a variety of the existing student loan forgiveness programs, significantly reduce monthly payments, and provide greater protections for students and taxpayers against unaffordable debts.