While hundreds of thousands of borrowers will see their student debt balances forgiven automatically, the program that underlies the administration’s newest student loan cancellation initiative is open to anyone.
When Corinthian collapsed in 2015, former students were left with mountains of debt and useless degrees . Dozens of these students organized a debt strike in 2015 to pressure the federal government to forgive their student debts, and their efforts eventually led to the establishment of a formal Borrower Defense application procedure.
But the Borrower Defense program has been mired in political, bureaucratic, and legal problems since. The regulations governing the program have been rewritten several times. And tens of thousands of applications remain unprocessed. The new initiative by the Biden administration will cancel the federal student loan debt of all former Corinthian students through Borrower Defense to Repayment. And while the Borrower Defense program typically requires a formal application to request relief, the administration will be enacting the Corinthian student loan cancellation automatically, even for borrowers who never submitted a Borrower Defense application.
The Borrower Defense to Repayment application is long, and asks many questions about the borrower’s experience at the school in question and examples of the school’s alleged misconduct. It is important to be very specific and detailed, and to include supporting documentation and evidence wherever possible.
“Borrowers should carefully complete the application form and provide as much accurate and detailed information as possible,” says the National Consumer Law Center on itsabout Borrower Defense to Repayment. “If borrowers are familiar with any lawsuits that were filed against their school, they should mention it on their application form.