Former ITT Students Get $1.1 Billion in Automatic Debt Relief

The Education Department will automatically cancel the student debt of 115,000 students who attended defunct ITT Technical Institute schools and didn’t complete their degrees elsewhere after the for-profit chain’s closure in 2016.

Those borrowers will get more than $1.1 billion in debt relief under federal regulations that grant loan forgiveness if a student leaves a college within 120 days of its closure and doesn’t pursue a degree elsewhere.

For former ITT students, the eligibility window will extend back to March 31, 2008, even though the school was open for several years after that, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Thursday.

If ...