(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) It’s not yet the radical elimination of all student-loan debt that leftists want, but the U.S. Department of Education has agreed to cancel the student loans of about 200,000 people who brought a lawsuit against the government.
The defendants argued that they had taken on federal debts to go to schools that “were found to have mislead them,” according to CNBC.
Under the terms of the Sweet v. Cardona settlement, the government will be approving $6 billion in debt forgiveness. The borrowers eligible for relief will get complete cancellation of their debt, along with refunds of amounts paid and repair to their credit.
The lawsuit was brought against the Trump administration in 2019, representing over 260,000 class members who said their applications for loan cancellation were ignored by the Education Department.
“This momentous proposed settlement will deliver answers and certainty to borrowers who have fought long and hard for a fair resolution of their borrower defense claims after being cheated by their schools and ignored or even rejected by their government,” said Eileen Connor, director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard Law School.
The project compiled a list of dozens of schools that are involved in the settlement. The Education Department has determined these schools engaged in misconduct. The type of misconduct these schools engaged in is not specified.
“Since day one, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to address longstanding issues relating to the borrower defense process,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
“We are pleased to have worked with plaintiffs to reach an agreement that will deliver billions of dollars of automatic relief to approximately 200,000 borrowers and that we believe will resolve plaintiffs’ claims in a manner that is fair and equitable for all parties.”
The Biden administration has been hinting at major student debt forgiveness, and has been receiving constant pressure from left-wing representatives, activists and even White House staff.
