More loan forgiveness

The Education Department on Friday announced it will forgive student loans for more than 1,800 borrowers who attended three for-profit colleges.

The U.S. Education Department on Friday announced it will forgive student loans for more than 1,800 borrowers who attended a trio of for-profit colleges that made false recruiting claims and left many students unable to find jobs.

The Biden administration is erasing more than $55 million in debt for former students of Westwood College, the Marinello Schools of Beauty and the Court Reporting Institute.

All three chains have been closed for years after facing accusations of fraud and deception in their advertising.

It is another step in the Education Department’s effort to clear a backlog of claims in the borrower defense program, which offers loan forgiveness to students who were defrauded by their schools.

Applications piled up when the Trump administration stalled the program while it rewrote the rules, leaving a current backlog of more than 100,000 pending claims.

“The department will continue doing its part to review and approve borrower defense claims quickly and fairly so that borrowers receive the relief that they need and deserve,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

He added that the new round of approvals should “serve as a warning to any institution engaging in similar conduct that this type of misrepresentation is unacceptable.”