Education Department Wiping Clean $150 Million In Students Loans After Obama-Era Rule

The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday it will be forgiving $150 million in federal student loans.

Nearly 15,000 former students whose schools shut down prior to graduation between Nov. 1, 2013 and Dec. 4 will now have their loans canceled, the Education Department announcement said.

Borrowers will find out about the loan forgiveness over email Friday, CNBC reported.

“For them, it’s going to be a very nice Christmas present,” former Education Department official Clare McCann said, according to CNBC.

The rule, initiated by former President Barack Obama’s administration, is called the Borrower Defense to Repayment. The rule helps students defrauded by for-profit colleges to have their loans cancelled after three years, CNN reported.

“About half of those borrowers received loans for attendance at Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (Corinthian) schools that closed on April 27, 2015,” the announcement said.

Corinthian was a for-profit chain that was closed after Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), a national accreditor for nonpublic colleges, was shut down. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos reinstated the college watchdog after the Obama administration claimed ACICS had poor oversight and shut it down.

About $80 million will be erased for students who attended Corinthian, the announcement said.

Students can apply for the loan forgiveness anytime, but generally have to wait three years after the college shut down, according to CNBC.