If you attended a for-profit college and were misled to enroll, you could be eligible for for-profit student loan forgiveness options like Borrower Defense to Repayment. Over the last several years, over $1 billion in student loan debt has been forgiven for students who attended for-profit colleges or other schools that potentially misled students.
The reasons for student loan forgiveness include borrower defense to repayment claims, closed schools, and other lawsuits.
The Biden Administration has forgiven the most amount of student loan debt of any president, with several recent announcements helping over 200,000 borrowers.
However, figuring out if you qualify for loan forgiveness can be challenging. Here is the list of colleges that qualify for student loan forgiveness under borrower defense to repayment, the latest Sweet v. Cardona settlement, or other loan cancellation agreements with the Department of Education. You can also see this guide on How To Get Help For Your Loans If You Were Defrauded By Your College.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect that not all schools on this list are for-profit. Some schools may have previously been for-profit, but have since changed their status to non-profit.
Borrower Defense Student Loan Forgiveness List
There are over 155 schools and colleges that potentially qualify for student loan forgiveness under various plans and settlements - the most recent being the proposed settlement of Sweet v. Cardona. However, many of the "owner" names don't match the college names. We're working to put the individual school names here on this list.
Note: Not all students for all years/schools will qualify. You still must meet the criteria for either borrower defense or closed school discharge. However, for some schools, all borrowers will qualify.
For example, Corinthian Colleges entered into a settlement, but the actual names of the schools are Everest, WyoTech, and others. As such, borrowers may not know if they qualify for programs.
For the list below, we list the parent company name, and then the list of affiliated schools. Some of these colleges may have previously been for-profit, but have since changed to non-profit educational institutions.
Disclaimer: Some schools on this list were previously for-profit schools, and have since changed to non-profit status. They may have also operated under different parent companies or other names previously. Schools that are considered non-profit today are denoted by an asterisk (*).
Alta Colleges, Inc. (Westwood)
- Westwood College
American Commercial Colleges, Inc.
- American Commercial College
American National University
- American National University
Ana Maria Piña Houde and Marc Houde
- Anamarc College
Anthem Education Group (InternationalEducation Corporation)
- Anthem College
- Anthem Institute
Apollo Group
- University of Phoenix
- Western International University
ATI Enterprises
- ATI Career Training Center
- ATI College
- ATI College of Health
- ATI Technical Training Center
B&H Education, Inc.
- Marinello School of Beauty
Berkeley College (NY)
- Berkeley College
Bridgepoint Education*
- Ashford University*
- University of the Rockies*
Capella Education Company (StrategicEducation, Inc.)
- Capella University
Career Education Corporation
- American InterContinental University
- Briarcliffe College
- Brooks College
- Brooks Institute
- Collins College
- Colorado Technical University
- Gibbs College
- Harrington College of Design
- International Academy of Design and Technology
- Katharine Gibbs School
- Le Cordon Bleu
- Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts
- Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts
- Lehigh Valley College
- McIntosh College
- Missouri College of Cosmetology North
- Pittsburgh Career Institute
- Sanford‐Brown College
- Sanford‐Brown Institute
- Brown College
- Brown Institute
- Washington Business School
- Allentown Business School
- Western School of Health and Business Careers
- Ultrasound Diagnostic Schools
- School of Computer Technology
- Al Collins Graphic Design School
- Orlando Culinary Academy
- Southern California School of Culinary Arts
- California Culinary Academy
- California School of Culinary Arts
- Pennsylvania Culinary Institute
- Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago
- Scottsdale Culinary Institute
- Texas Culinary Academy
- Kitchen Academy
- Western Culinary Institute
Center for Employment Training
- Center for Employment Training
Center for Excellence in Higher Education(CEHE)
- California College San Diego
- CollegeAmerica
- Independence University
- Stevens‐Henager
Corinthian Colleges, Inc.
- American Motorcycle Institute
- Ashmead College
- Blair College
- Bryman College
- Bryman Institutde
- CDI College
- Duff's Business Institute
- Eton Technical Institute
- Everest
- Everest University Online
- Everest College Phoenix
- Florida Metropolitan University
- Georgia Medical Institute
- Heald College
- Kee Business College
- Las Vegas College
- National Institute of Technology
- National School of Technology
- Olympia Career Training Instittue
- Olympia College
- Parks College
- Rochester Business Institute
- Sequoia College
- Tampa College
- Western Business College
- WyoTech
Computer Systems Institute
- Computer Systems Institute
Court Reporting Institute, Inc.
- Court Reporting Institute
Cynthia Becher
- La' James College of Hairstyling
- La' James International College
David Pyle
- American Career College
- American Career Institute
Delta Career Education Corporation
- McCann School of Business & Technology
- Miami‐Jacobs Career College
- Miller Motte Business College
- Miller‐Motte College
- Miller‐Motte Technical College
- Tucson College
DeVry
- American University of the Caribbean
- Carrington College
- Chamberlain University
- DeVry College of Technology
- Devry Institute of Technology
- DeVry University
- Keller Graduate School of Management
- Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine
- Ross University School of Medicine
EDMC/Dream Center
- Argosy University
- The Art Institute
- Brown Mackie College
- Illinois Institute of Art
- Miami International University of Art & Design
- New England Institute of Art
- South University
- Western State University College of Law
Education Affiliates (JLL Partners)
- All‐State Career School
- Fortis College
- Fortis Institute
Edudyne Systems Inc.
- Career Point College
Empire Education Group
- Empire Beauty School
Everglades College, Inc.
- Everglades University
- Keiser University
FastTrain
- FastTrain
Globe Education Network
- Globe University
- Minnesota School of Business
Graham Holdings Company (Kaplan)
- Bauder College
- Kaplan Career Institute
- Kaplan College
- Mount Washington College
- Purdue University Global
Grand Canyon Education, Inc.
- Grand Canyon University*
Infilaw Holding, LLC
- Arizona Summit Law School
- Charlotte School of Law
- Florida Coastal School of Law
International Education Corporation
- Florida Career College
- United Education Institute
ITT Educational Services Inc.
- ITT Technical Institute
JTC Education, Inc.
- Gwinnett College
- Medtech College
- Radians College
Laureate Education, Inc
- Walden University
Leeds Equity Partners V, L.P.
- Florida Technical College
- National University College
- NUC University
Liberty Partners
- Concorde Career College
- Concorde Career Institute
Lincoln Educational Services Corporation
- International Technical Institute
- Lincoln College of Technology
- Lincoln Technical Institute
Mark A. Gabis Trust
- Daymar College
Mission Group Kansas, Inc.
- Wright Business School
- Wright Career College
Premier Education Group L.P.
- American College for Medical Careers
- Branford Hall Career Institute
- Hallmark Institute of Photography
- Hallmark University
- Harris School of Business
- Institute for Health Education
- Micropower Career Institute
- Suburban Technical School
- Salter College
Quad Partners LLC
- Beckfield College
- Blue Cliff College
- Dorsey College
Remington University, Inc. (Remington College)
- Remington College
Southern Technical Holdings, LLC
- Southern Technical College
Star Career Academy
- Star Career Academy
Sullivan and Cogliano Training Center, Inc.
- Sullivan and Cogliano Training Centers
TCS Education System
- Chicago School of Professional Psychology
Vatterott Educational Centers, Inc.
- Court Reporting Institute of St Louis
- Vatterott College
Wilfred American Education Corp.
- Robert Fiance Beauty Schools
- Robert Fiance Hair Design Institute
- Robert Fiance Institute of Florida
- Wilfred Academy
- Wilfred Academy of Beauty Culture
- Wilfred Academy of Hair & Beauty Culture
Willis Stein & Partners (ECA)
- Brightwood Career Institute
- Brightwood College
- New England College of Business and Finance
- Virginia College
How To Get Loan Forgiveness
There are two main programs that help here:
Borrower Defense To Repayment provides for the cancellation of a borrower’s federal student loans when the college violated federal or state laws or engaged in a substantial misrepresentation concerning the borrower’s student loans or the educational services paid for using the student loans. If a borrower qualifies for the borrower defense to repayment discharge, the borrower’s federal student loans will be cancelled and all previous payments refunded to the borrower.
Closed School Discharges: If a college closed while the student is enrolled or within 180 days of the student’s withdrawal, the student may be eligible for a closed school discharge of their federal student loans if they are unable to complete their education through a teach-out or by transferring credits to another school.
It's important to remember that these loan forgiveness programs only apply to Federal student loans (such as the latest settlement with the Department of Education). If you have private student loans, there are no specific student loan forgiveness programs that can help. However, there have been various lawsuits and settlements to dismiss some private loans in connection with these schools.
Recently, Navient agreed to forgive $1.7 billion in private student loans for 66,000 borrowers who dropped out of for-profit colleges. Previously, Corinthian Colleges agreed to forgive private Genesis loans to borrowers who attended their schools.
Legal Updates
Several appeals have been filed since the Sweet v. Cardona agreement was approved, with borrowers feeling like they've been in limbo since 2022.
In November 2022, the judge overseeing the case has approved the settlement agreement. However, the group that represented the schools has said it would appeal the case.
In February 2023, the judge overseeing the case temporarily blocked loan forgiveness. However, by May, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed loan forgiveness to proceed.
By August 2023, the Education Department had instructed loan servicers to discharge the debt of over 128,000 class members. And more borrowers are starting to see their loans forgiven as a result.
In January 2024, the first class members started receiving their settlements.
What To Do Next
If you think you qualify, you should have been (or will be) notified by your loan servicer. However, if your contact information is not updated, you may not be.
As such, you should submit an application for the Borrower Defense To Repayment Discharge at studentaid.gov/borrower-defense/.
Notice: There are a LOT of scams out there that are using these school names to get you to pay for help processing your student loan forgiveness claims. You don't have to pay - you can do this all for free via StudentAid.gov (which is a legitimate government website). Read our list of common student loan scams here.
Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared toward anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, Today, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.
Editor: Claire Tak Reviewed by: Chris Muller
