Biden Approves $6.1 Billion In Student Loan Forgiveness For Art Institute Borrowers

On Wednesday, the Biden administration approved an additional $6.1 billion in student loan forgiveness for the 317,000 borrowers who attended any Art Institute campus between January 2004 and October 2017. The Art Institute was a for-profit system of art colleges across the United States that was shut down last year after facing a host of legal issues.

"For more than a decade, hundreds of thousands of hopeful students borrowed billions to attend The Art Institutes and got little but lies in return. That ends today—thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration's work with the attorneys general offices of Iowa, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a press release.  "We must continue to protect borrowers from predatory institutions—and work toward a higher education system that is affordable to students and taxpayers."

The Department of Education asserted that the Art Institutes "made pervasive & substantial misrepresentations to prospective students about postgraduation employment rates, salaries, & career services during that time." The multi-billion dollar student loan forgiveness announcement brings Biden's total forgiveness, which he is doing unilaterally without Congress, to nearly $160 billion for 4.3 million borrowers.

Despite the Supreme Court ruling that President Biden's actions to attempt to relieve $430 billion of student loans last year was unconstitutional, the White House has been pursuing other avenues to attempt to win over young, progressive voters by eliminating their loans and putting the burden on hard-working American taxpayers.

Earlier this year, Republican-led states filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration to challenge the president's SAVE Plan, which was launched in 2022 and has forgiven loans for over 150,000 Americans. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who is leading the effort, explained during a press conference that Biden lacks the authority to take unilateral action on the issue. "In a completely brazen fashion, the president pressed ahead anyway," Kobach said, per The AP. "The law simply does not allow President Biden to do what he wants to do."

As President Biden continues to defy the Supreme Court and seek every action possible to forgive student loans without Congress' approval, young voters seemingly aren't willing to accept the bribe. A recent CNN poll found that the president's support among 18 to 34-year-olds has taken a devastating hit from his 2020 campaign, with Trump actually leading Biden by 11 points among the demographic.

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