Tens of thousands of former students at the now-defunct
The settlement provides relief to students who had used the school's PEAKS loan program, which lended money to those who had already borrowed the most they could from the federal government.
Prosecutors called the program "reckless" because many students didn't understand the terms or couldn't afford them. Some didn't even know they had the loans, the
The short-term loans were due to be repaid nine months after being administered, a time when most of those who took out the loans were still in school. The loans also carried interest rates exceeding the rates of federal loans.
Attorneys general from 48 states and the
The debt relief includes more than
"
Frosh said ITT Tech used "high-pressure tactics" to force students to accept the terms of the loan, including pulling them out of class and threatening to expel them. Students felt compelled to agree to the terms since ITT Tech's credits didn't always transfer to other schools.
ITT shuttered its doors in 2016 after the
ITT Tech said it operated more than 130 campuses nationwide in 39 states and online with more than 40,000 students in undergraduate and graduate programs at the time of its closure. The school received about
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