450k borrowers say they were ripped off. Their student loans are being erased

Education 450k borrowers say they were ripped off. Their student loans are being erased July 31, 20265:00 AM ET Cory Turner The class-action lawsuit has spanned three presidential administrations and carried the names of three different education secretaries: from Sweet v. DeVos in 2019 to Sweet v. Cardona during the Biden administration, and now Sweet v. McMahon for Trump's current education secretary, Linda McMahon. Oliver Contreras/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Oliver Contreras/AFP via Getty Images Catch up on what you missed with our Education newsletter, sent weekly. The long legal battle to erase the debts of nearly half a million federal student loan borrowers who say they were defrauded by their colleges is finally coming to an end, after a recent court ruling in a lawsuit that has spanned three presidential administrations. The class-action suit, originally filed against the first Trump administration seven years ago, centered on a federal rule known as borrower defense. The rule is supposed to allow borrowers to petition the U.S. Education Department to erase their debts if a school has lied to them – about things like their job prospects, their credits' transferability or their likely salary after graduation. Sponsor Message During Trump's first term, thousands of borrowers who claimed they had been ripped off by predatory schools waited years to have their borrower defense claims reviewed. Finally, advocates sued, arguing that, under then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the department had deliberately and illegally stopped processing claims and wrongfully denied others without considering the merits of their cases. The suit has endured long enough to bear the names of three different education secretaries: from Sweet v. DeVos in 2019 to Sweet v. Cardona during the Biden administration, and now Sweet v. McMahon for Trump's second term. Education Under a new federal rule, colleges must leave grads better off or lose financial aid "At th...