Biden Administration to Clear $6.1B in Debt of Former Art Institutes Students

The Biden administration will forgive $6.1 billion in debt held by 317,000 former students of the defunct for-profit chain the Art Institutes, marking one of the Education Department’s largest group discharges of federal student loans. The decision covers people who were enrolled at any Art Institute campus from Jan. 1, 2004, to Oct. 16, 2017, a period in which Education Management Corp. (EDMC) owned the chain of schools. The Education Department will on Wednesday begin notifying eligible borrowers, who are not required to take action. The agency said it also will refund payments that former students have made on loans that are earmarked for forgiveness.