Art of the bailout
WASHINGTON — The White House announced Wednesday that President Biden had ordered the federal government to write off $6.1 billion in student debt for about 317,000 people who attended the Art Institutes — continuing a piecemeal approach to set aside such debt after the Supreme Court struck down a broader debt forgiveness plan last year.
“Today, my Administration is approving $6.1 billion in student debt cancellation for 317,000 borrowers who attended the Art Institutes,” Biden said in a statement.
“This institution falsified data, knowingly misled students, and cheated borrowers into taking on mountains of debt without leading to promising career prospects at the end of their studies.”
The now-defunct Art Institutes was based in Atlanta and had locations across the country — including in critical swing states such as Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Biden last month proposed a federal regulation that would take effect in early fall and cancel up to $20,000 in accrued interest for more than 25 million debtors who went to college — on top of prior actions to wipe out $146 billion in federally owned debt.
Republicans have accused the president of “buying votes” and called the bailouts unfair to noncollege-educated voters and those who have already paid off their loans — though much of the forgiveness has been through implementation of repayment plans under bipartisan laws, including for people in public service jobs.
Biden explicitly contrasted himself with former President Donald Trump, against whom he’s running in the November election, in his latest announcement.
“While my predecessor looked the other way when colleges defrauded students and borrowers, I promised to take this on directly to provide borrowers with the relief they need and deserve,” Biden said.
“Over the last three years, my Administration has approved nearly $29 billion in debt relief for 1.6 million borrowers whose colleges took advantage of them, closed abruptly, or were covered by related court settlements, compared to just 53,500 borrowers who had ever gotten their debt canceled through these types of actions before I took office. And in total, we have approved debt cancellation for nearly 4.6 million Americans through various actions.”