Education department cancels student loan debt en masse for former beauty school students, an unusual step
Chris Quintana
April 28, 2022
Amid constant pressure from progressive lawmakers for widespread student loan debt forgiveness, the Biden administration on Thursday announced a new round of targeted relief – this time for past students of a beauty school that authorities say failed to train students in its cosmetology programs “how to cut hair” in some cases.
The Education Department stripped the Marinello Schools of Beauty, now a closed for-profit college, of federal funding in 2016 because of “pervasive and widespread misconduct.”
The agency announced Thursday that it would cancel the debt via its borrower defense program of students who attended the school from 2009 through its 2016 closure. The forgiveness initiative erases the debt of students who can prove they were defrauded by their schools.