FOIA Request: Records Regarding the U.S. Department of Education’s Internal Decisions and External Communications for its $3.9 Billion ITT Student Loan Debt Discharge
| Agency | Department of Education |
|---|---|
| Type | FOIA Request |
| Issue | Borrower DefenseStudent Loan Debt Cancellation |
| Tracking | DFI FOIA No. 100-35-22 |
| Date | Nov 30, 2022 |
On August 16, 2022, the Department announced that it was discharging approximately $3.9 billion in federal student loans incurred by 208,000 borrowers who had attended the now defunct ITT Technical Institute from January 2005 through September 2016. The Department decided to provide the massive debt discharge without making fact-specific determinations, providing it to thousands of former students who had never applied for discharge or alleged that they had been defrauded. The Department appears to have relied in part on a report and recommendations submitted to Secretary Cardona in February 2022 by the Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL), counsel for former ITT students in a lawsuit against ITT's bankruptcy estate. PPSL's founder and former director is now Deputy General Counsel at the Department, where PPSL's report and recommendations to Secretary Cardona on the ITT massive student loan discharge appear to have been fully embraced, as evidenced by the Department's ITT decision. In response, DFI's FOIA request is for internal decision records and external communications with interested parties, including PPSL, regarding the Department's ITT discharge decision, from January 20, 2021, through the present.
Request