Former Westwood College students get federal debt canceled

WASHINGTON (AP) — Any federal student loans used to attend the for-profit Westwood College from 2002 through 2015 will be canceled after federal officials found that the school greatly exaggerated the job prospects of its graduates, the Biden administration announced Tuesday.

The action will automatically erase $1.5 billion in federal student debt for 79,000 borrowers who attended the now-defunct college, according to the Education Department.

It adds to the administration’s mounting effort to cancel federal loans for students who were defrauded by their colleges — more than $14 billion has been erased so far — and it follows President Joe Biden’s sweeping plan to cancel at least $10,000 in student debt for millions of Americans.

The Westwood College cancellation applies to all students who attended the chain from Jan. 1, 2002, through Nov. 17, 2015, when the college stopped enrolling new students before its 2016 closure. Students will not need to apply for the relief.

With help from attorneys general in Colorado and Illinois, federal officials found that the college routinely misled prospective students about their chances of getting good jobs after graduating.

In its marketing materials, the chain advertised employment rates and salary outcomes that were “grossly inflated,” the Education Department found. It also promised to help graduates pay their bills if they couldn’t find jobs within six months after graduating — a pledge officials say wasn’t kept.

In Illinois, the chain's criminal justice programs told students they could expect law enforcement jobs in agencies including the Illinois State Police, but Westwood never had the accreditation needed to meet employment requirements for the state, authorities found.

“Westwood operated on a culture of false promises,...