Challenge director Eileen Connor (middle) joins companions on the Division of Training announcement on Corinthian pupil debt cancellation.
In 2015, when Vice President Kamala Harris was California’s Legal professional Basic, she discovered the Corinthian School chain responsible of fraud — and the US Division of Training agreed.
Flash ahead to final week, seven years later, when VP Harris joined the Division of Training to lastly announce that it might cancel all federal pupil loans from Corinthian Schools — relieving greater than 560,000 pupil debtors of over $5.8 billion in Corinthian debt. It was a victorious day for our purchasers who by no means knew when today would come.
For over seven years, these debtors fought tirelessly to Cancel Corinthian. This journey was lengthy and stuffed with challenges, however it laid out a path towards what many individuals stated was unimaginable. It began when a small group of Corinthian college students, along with Debt Collective, organized the nation’s first pupil debt strike and helped set up borrower protection to reimbursement as a path for defrauded debtors to have their pupil loans canceled. On the time, their efforts have been referred to as “admirable, however unrealistic.”
However they didn’t hand over. When the Division of Training continued to illegally accumulate on Corinthian money owed, debtors took the battle to courtroom, and collectively we sued the Division of Training in Calvillo v. Cardona (previously DeVos) and in Vara v. Cardona (previously DeVos). And we received — first for Massachusetts debtors, and now, for allCorinthian debtors.
To say that justice was lengthy overdue is an understatement.
Our purchasers have been sharing their Corinthian tales for years. Amanda Kulka first shared her Everest Institute story with NPR in 2018, after which with the Washington Submit in 2021. Andrea shared the horrors of her expertise as a Corinthian School graduate with us in 2019. Julie instructed us about her perception that the federal government would cancel her loans years in the past. Melissa, Natalie, Kenya, Naquasha, Arleen – all shared their Corinthian School tales. And Nathan Horne, one of many authentic debt strikers, wrote about this loopy journey lately in Teen Vogue.
Their tales, and their bravery, didn’t go unnoticed. Members of Congress, attorneys common, coverage leaders and advocates throughout the nation joined the name to cancel Corinthian debt — many as early as 2018, after we galvanized voices in help of those debtors. For advocates over a long time, this name to do what is true and cancel Corinthian money owed by no means wavered.
There isn’t a doubt that these debtors ought to have obtained debt reduction years in the past. However in securing justice at this time, they’ve achieved one thing that many stated was a pipe dream — making giant scale pupil cancellation a actuality. They’ve confirmed what can and should be completed when predatory faculties defraud college students.
Whereas we’re so happy with our Corinthian purchasers for his or her perseverance, we should additionally acknowledge the a whole bunch of 1000’s of different debtors who’re equally owed debt reduction. Debtors from faculties like ITT Tech (a college that’s so fraudulent, we launched a 200+ web page report proving it) or Florida Careers School (a college that systematically targets Black college students to promote their predatory program) or different recognized frauds reminiscent of Artwork Institutes, DeVry, College of Phoenix, and Brooks. For them, the battle continues.
So we have fun at this time, and get again to work tomorrow.
