Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-20210617

A28 u.s. news
Diahuebs 17 Juni 2021

Loan relief granted to defrauded for-profit college students

thousands of borrowers a March when he rescinded a
fresh start and the relief they Borrower defense is among formula that allowed the Ed-
deserve,” Cardona said in a several education programs ucation Department to give
statement. “Many of these targeted for an overhaul by only partial loan discharges
borrowers have waited a long the Biden administration as to students whose claims
time for relief, and we need it works to reverse Trump- were approved. All borrow-
to work swiftly to render era policies. Cardona is host- ers granted relief will now get
decisions for those whose ing a series of hearings this their loans cleared in full.
claims are still pending.” month as his agency consid-
ers changes to that policy and Many of the 18,000 claims
It follows another round of others. from ITT Tech were ap-
loan discharges in March, proved after the Education
when the Education De- The program was rarely used Department found that the
partment cleared $1 billion until 2015, when the Educa- company lied about gradu-
in federal student debt for tion Department received ates’ job prospects. The agen-
72,000 borrowers. Those thousands of claims from for- cy said ITT made “repeated
claims all came from former mer students of Corinthian and significant misrepre-
students of for-profit col- Colleges. The chain of for- sentations” about its ability
(AP) - The U.S. Education ward in the Biden admin- leges. profit colleges had recently to help students get jobs. In
Department said Wednes- istration’s effort to clear shut down following findings reality, many students said it
day it’s erasing student a backlog of claims in the Borrower advocates applaud- that it lied to students about was harder to find employ-
debt for thousands of bor- borrower defense program, ed the new approvals but job placement rates. ment when they listed ITT
rowers who attended a which provides loan forgive- called for swift relief for the on their resumes, the depart-
for-profit college chain ness to students who were thousands of other students Following the collapse of ment said.
that made exaggerated defrauded by their colleges. whose claims are still pend- Corinthian and other belea-
claims about its graduates’ Claims piled up during the ing, including many who at- guered for-profit colleges, Other claims were approved
success in finding jobs. Trump administration, which tended ITT Tech. the Obama administration after the department found
stalled the program and only moved to make it easier for that ITT misled students
The Biden administration started processing claims af- “It appears the Biden admin- students to get loans erased. about their ability to transfer
said it is approving 18,000 ter a federal court demanded istration genuinely wants to But the overhaul was re- course credits to other col-
loan forgiveness claims from it. There are now more than help people who are owed versed by the Trump admin- leges. Credits were rarely ac-
former students of ITT Tech- 100,000 pending claims. discharges,” said Alex Elson, istration, which later wrote its cepted elsewhere, the depart-
nical Institute, a chain that vice president of Student own rules making it tougher ment said, leaving students
closed in 2016 after being In announcing the new ac- Defense, a Washington legal to get relief. In changing the with “little to no progress” in
dealt a series of sanctions by tion, Education Secretary group. “But that makes it all rules, then-Education Secre- their academic careers.
the Obama administration. Miguel Cardona vowed to the more confounding that tary Betsy DeVos said it had
The new loan discharges will continue standing up for stu- they are so hesitant to use become too easy to get loans Borrowers will be notified
clear more than $500 million dents who are deceived by their authority to immedi- forgiven. about their claim approv-
in debt. their schools. ately and automatically help als in the coming weeks, the
the countless additional bor- Cardona began chipping agency said.
The move marks a step for- “Our action today will give rowers who are still waiting.” away at DeVos’ rules in

South Carolina inmates to appeals court: Halt electrocutions

(AP) - The two South electric chair. Sigmon, 63, was convicted Death Penalty Information
Carolina inmates sched- Sigmon’s execution is set for in 2002 of killing his ex- Center. Prison officials have
uled to die this month Friday in South Carolina’s In his Friday order, Har- girlfriend’s parents with a not indicated a timeline for
under the state’s recently 109-year-old electric chair. well wrote that Sigmon and baseball bat in Greenville when the firing squad will
reconfigured capital pun- Owens is scheduled to die a Owens have failed to clearly County. Owens, 43, was first be available though they have
ishment statute are asking week later. show that electrocution vio- sentenced to death in 1999 said they are researching how
an appellate court to halt lates the Eighth Amendment, for the shooting murder two other states operate their
their deaths by electrocu- Their deaths were scheduled citing more than a century’s years earlier of a convenience squads.
tion. less than a month after the worth of federal court prec- store clerk during an armed
passage of a new law com- edent. robbery, also in Greenville South Carolina’s last execu-
On Monday, Brad Sigmon pelling the condemned to County. tion took place in 2011, and
and Freddie Owens filed a choose between electrocu- Harwell’s refusal marks a its batch of lethal injection
notice of appeal to the 4th tion or a firing squad in the second blow against the in- South Carolina is one of eight drugs expired two years later.
Circuit Court of Appeals. event lethal injection drugs mates in their legal attempts states to still use the electric There are 37 men awaiting
aren’t available. The statute to secure a reprieve. A state chair and four to allow a fir- death in the state.
The condemned men are is aimed at restarting execu- judge evaluating a lawsuit ing squad, according to the
seeking to overturn an order tions after an involuntary over the new death penalty
by U.S. District Judge Bryan 10-year pause that the state law also declined to halt the
Harwell, who on Friday de- attributes to an inability to executions earlier this week.
clined to halt their upcom- procure the drugs. The prisoners are also seek-
ing executions. Attorneys ing respite from the South
for Sigmon and Owens had Sigmon and Owens sued Carolina Supreme Court.
argued that South Carolina as the measure became law,
hasn’t tried hard enough to saying they can’t be electro- Both Sigmon and Ow-
get lethal injection drugs or cuted or shot since they were ens have run out of tradi-
compound them itself, as sentenced under a prior law tional appeals in the last few
some other states have done, making lethal injection the months, leaving the state Su-
and that executing them by default method. Prisons of- preme Court to set and then
electrocution subjects the ficials say they still can’t ac- stay their executions after the
men to excruciating pain and quire lethal injection drugs corrections agency said it still
violates the Eighth Amend- and have yet to assemble a didn’t have lethal injection
ment’s prohibition on cruel firing squad — meaning that drugs.
and unusual punishment. both men would die in the