Consumer Alert

Federal Loan Cancellation for Former Students of Corinthian Colleges

The Alaska Office of the Attorney General sent letters to Alaska residents who attended schools operated by Corinthian Colleges, Inc. notifying them that they are eligible for cancellation of their federal student loans used to attend those schools. If a student’s federal loan is cancelled, the student will make no more payments on the loan, and any payments already made will be refunded.

After Corinthian Colleges abruptly ceased operations in 2015, the U.S. Department of Education found that while it was operating, Corinthian Colleges made widespread misrepresentations between 2010 and 2014 about post-graduation employment rates at its campuses.

Lists of the affected campuses, programs, and dates of enrollment are available at https://www.StudentAid.gov/ev-wy-findings and at https://www.StudentAid.gov/heald-findings. Students who first enrolled in the identified campuses and programs during the specified time periods are eligible for streamlined discharge of their federal student loans.

The Attorney General’s outreach targets students who fall within the U.S. Department of Education’s findings of fraud discussed above, and who are eligible for a special “streamlined” process to discharge their federal student loans. However, any student who attended Corinthian Colleges and believes that the school lied about job prospects, the transferability of credits, or other issues may apply to have their federal student loans canceled using the Department of Education’s universal discharge application at https://borrowerdischarge.ed.gov. More information is available at https://studentaid.ed.gov/borrower-defense.

Borrowers should beware of student loan scams. You can apply for loan forgiveness, or get information on loan forgiveness, for FREE through the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education never charges application or maintenance fees.

Anyone who applies for loan discharge should continue making payments on the affected loans until informed by the U.S. Dept. of Education or his loan servicer that his federal loans are in forbearance while his application is pending or that his loans have been cancelled.

If you have questions, more information about the Office’s outreach to former Corinthian Colleges students visit www.corinthianoutreach.com or call the U.S. Department of Education hotline at 1-855-279-6207 or e-mail questions about discharge of their federal student loans to FSAOperations@ed.gov.

Consumer Protection Unit
June 2017