For-Profit College Student Loan Forgiveness List

If a for-profit college misled you about your program, your job prospects or your loans, you may qualify to have your federal student loans cancelled. Some schools on this list got automatic group discharges. Most are covered by a court settlement that only helps people who already applied. If you’re in neither group, you can still file a borrower defense application.

Borrowers get loans cancelled through borrower defense to repayment claims, closed school discharges and lawsuit settlements. Group discharges announced between April 2022 and January 2025 covered more than 1.5 million borrowers and $23.4 billion in loans. No new group discharges have been announced since January 2025.

The Biden administration forgave more student loans than any prior president, and much of the for-profit relief came in its last months. Since then, the fight has moved to the courts. Judges have rejected the Department of Education’s attempts to delay the relief it agreed to in the Sweet settlement.

The table below lists colleges that qualify for loan forgiveness under borrower defense to repayment, the Sweet v. McMahon settlement (formerly Sweet v. Cardona) and closed school discharges. It also shows the current status for each school.

Borrower Defense Student Loan Forgiveness List

Search for your school’s name or its parent company in the table below. Many students knew their school by a brand name, not the company that owned it. Corinthian Colleges ran Everest, WyoTech and Heald, so the table lists both the brand and the owner. If your school isn’t here, other student loan forgiveness programs may still fit.

Note: Not every borrower from every year at every school qualifies. Automatic group discharges cover set attendance windows. Sweet settlement relief covers only borrowers who applied by November 15, 2022. If you don't fit either group, you can still apply. Certificate program students may also qualify for trade school loan forgiveness.

Disclaimer: Some schools on this list were for-profit when the misconduct happened and have since become nonprofits. Examples include Ashford University (now University of Arizona Global Campus) and Grand Canyon University. Some also operated under other names or owners. Nonprofit schools can face misconduct claims too, including college rankings fraud.

Which Schools Got Automatic Group Discharges?

Borrowers from these schools don't need to apply if they attended during the covered years. The Department of Education discharges the loans and notifies borrowers through their servicer. If you're not sure who holds your loans, check our list of federal student loan servicers.

Corinthian Colleges (Everest, WyoTech, Heald and others): attended 1995 to 2015 while Corinthian owned the school ITT Technical Institute: attended January 1, 2005 to September 2016 Westwood College: attended January 1, 2002 to November 17, 2015 Marinello Schools of Beauty: attended 2009 to February 2016 The Art Institutes, Illinois Institute of Art and New England Institute of Art: attended January 1, 2004 to October 16, 2017 CollegeAmerica, Stevens-Henager, Independence University and California College San Diego: attended January 1, 2006 to August 1, 2021 Ashford University: attended March 1, 2009 to April 30, 2020 Drake College of Business: attended January 1, 2008 until the school closed Criminal justice programs at Globe University and Minnesota School of Business (all years) and at Lincoln Technical Institute's Lowell and Somerville, Massachusetts campuses (2010 to 2013) American Career Institute Massachusetts campuses

The attendance windows come from the Department of Education's group discharge announcements, as collected by the Project on Predatory Student Lending. The Art Institutes discharge alone covered $6.1 billion for 317,000 borrowers.

Your loan may still show a balance or appear on your credit report even if your school is on this list. A class action filed in September 2026 challenges whether the Department of Education fully processed these discharges. It says the agency still reports $4.6 billion in cancelled debt to credit bureaus.

How To Get Loan Forgiveness

For-profit college borrowers get federal loans cancelled today in three ways: an automatic group discharge, the Sweet v. McMahon settlement, or a new borrower defense or closed school application. Which one applies depends on your school, when you attended and whether you applied before November 15, 2022.

Borrower defense to repayment cancels your federal student loans when your school broke federal or state law. It also applies when the school made a substantial misrepresentation about your loans or the education you paid for. If your claim is approved, the loans tied to that school are discharged. Payments you made may be refunded. Your application should include evidence of what the school told you and how it affected your decision to enroll.

Closed school discharges apply if your college closed while you were enrolled or on an approved leave of absence. They also apply if it closed within 180 days after you withdrew. You can get a closed school discharge of your federal loans if you didn't finish your program through a teach-out or by transferring credits.

What Changed Under The One Big Beautiful Bill Act?

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law on July 4, 2025. It restored the stricter 2019 rule instead of the Biden-era 2022 borrower defense rule. That change applies to any loan first made before July 1, 2035. The 2022 rule never took effect because a federal court blocked it in 2023. Congress is also weighing bills that would cut federal aid to programs that fail licensing and earnings tests.

As a result, you need to know which borrower defense rule applied on the date your loan was disbursed. Loans before July 1, 2017 fall under the 1994 rule. Loans from July 1, 2017 to July 1, 2020 fall under the 2016 rule. Loans from July 1, 2020 onward fall under the 2019 rule. The 2019 rule is the hardest to win under because it requires proof of financial harm. It also has a filing deadline after you leave school.

In March 2026, the Department of Education resumed reviewing borrower defense applications that aren't covered by the Sweet settlement. It started with claims under the 1994 and 2016 rules. Schools get 60 days to respond to each claim before the Department decides. If you filed after November 2022, that's the line you're in. A student loan lawyer can help if your claim is complicated.

What About Closed Schools?

StudentAid.gov still says borrowers whose school closed on or after July 1, 2023 will generally get an automatic closed school discharge one year after the closure. The same page notes that a court delayed the 2023 closed school rule. Until that's settled, the Department processes applications under earlier rules. Don't wait for an automatic discharge. Contact your loan servicer and apply as soon as the Department confirms your school's closure date.

In January 2025, the Department also extended closed school discharges to borrowers who enrolled long before several big chains shut down. It covers three groups:

Career Education Corp. schools (Le Cordon Bleu, Brooks Institute, Sanford-Brown, Briarcliffe, Missouri College): enrolled from May 6, 2015 EDMC schools (Argosy and the Art Institutes): enrolled from October 17, 2017 Education Corporation of America schools (Virginia College and Brightwood College): enrolled from December 16, 2016

The table above lists these as extended closed school discharges.

What About Private Loans And Parent PLUS Loans?

These programs only cover federal student loans. That includes Parent PLUS loans a parent took out for a student at the school. The Sweet v. McMahon settlement terms on StudentAid.gov give the exact class definitions. No federal forgiveness program applies to private student loans, but there are options if you can't afford your private student loans.

Some lawsuits have cancelled private loans tied to these schools. In January 2022, Navient agreed to cancel $1.7 billion in private student loans for 66,000 borrowers. Many of them attended for-profit colleges. Before that, Corinthian Colleges agreed to cancel its private Genesis loans for borrowers who attended its schools. Headlines like these often bring fake "settlement" offers, so watch for common student loan scams.

Legal Updates

The Sweet v. McMahon settlement is final and has survived every appeal. It's now in its last stretch of discharges. The Department of Education reported discharging or refunding about $12 billion for almost 300,000 borrowers as of April 2026. That figure comes from case updates by the Project on Predatory Student Lending, which brought the case.

Here's how the case got here, and what's still ahead.

The Department's own August 10, 2026 quarterly report shows at least 195,598 discharges fully processed for the automatic relief group. It also shows 11,592 class members and post-class applicants still without a decision by their deadlines.

What To Do Next

What you should do depends on which group you're in. Find your school in the table, then follow the step that matches your situation. Every step below is free, so don't pay anyone who offers to do it for you.

Your school got an automatic group discharge and you attended in the window: You don't need to apply. Log in to StudentAid.gov and your servicer account to confirm the balance is zero. If it isn't, contact your servicer and FSA. Keep records of every call. You applied for borrower defense by November 15, 2022: Check every email folder for a notice from noreply@studentaid.gov. Exhibit C post-class applicants should have one dated March 30, 2026. Others should have one from mid-June 2026. If you have no notice or your relief is late, email sweet@ed.gov with your name and application number. Copy the Project on Predatory Student Lending at info@ppsl.org. You never applied, or applied after November 2022: File a borrower defense application at StudentAid.gov. You don't have to be on this list to apply. Describe what the school told you and when. Explain how it affected your decision to enroll or borrow. Your school closed: Ask your loan servicer for a closed school discharge application. Your loans were discharged but still show on your credit report: Dispute the tradeline with each credit bureau and file a complaint with FSA. The Woods class action could also change how these loans are reported.

If you qualify for automatic relief, your loan servicer should have notified you. That notice may not reach you if your contact information is out of date. Update your address and email at StudentAid.gov now. You should also check whether your discharge is taxable.

Notice: Scammers use these school names to charge you for "processing" your forgiveness claim. You don't have to pay anyone. You can do all of this for free at StudentAid.gov, the official government site. Learn the signs of student loan scams before you share any account information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is My School On The Student Loan Forgiveness List?

Search for your school or its parent company in the table above. The list only shows schools tied to past group discharges and the Sweet settlement. If your school isn't listed, you can still apply for borrower defense at StudentAid.gov.

Is Strayer, Full Sail Or National American University On The List?

None of the three is on the Sweet settlement's Exhibit C list, and none has received a group discharge. Capella University is on Exhibit C. It shares a parent company with Strayer. Former students of all three can still file their own borrower defense application.

Is It Too Late To Get Relief From The Sweet Settlement?

Yes, if you didn't apply by November 15, 2022. The settlement only covers borrowers who applied by then. You can still file a new borrower defense application. The Department now reviews those under the 1994, 2016 or 2019 rule, depending on when your loans were made.

Do I Have To Apply If My School Got A Group Discharge?

No. If you attended during the covered window, the Department discharges the loans automatically. Your servicer then notifies you. Check your balance at StudentAid.gov. If it hasn't changed, contact your servicer and FSA.

Does Borrower Defense Cover Private Student Loans Or Parent PLUS Loans?

Borrower defense and closed school discharges cover federal loans only. That includes Parent PLUS loans taken out for a student at the school. Private loans aren't eligible, though some lawsuits have cancelled private loans tied to these schools.

When Will Sweet Settlement Borrowers Get Their Money?

The Department must finish discharges and refunds by March 30, 2027 for Exhibit C post-class applicants. Non-Exhibit C post-class applicants should get theirs by mid-June 2027. Some original class members are already past their deadlines. That's why borrowers asked the court to hold the Department in contempt in August 2026.

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