I am most appreciative for your efforts to help those affected. The tuition & fees in the last active year were $18,634. VICE Money talked to former students of a for-profit college known as the New England Institute of Art, who are hoping to file a class-action lawsuit aimed at having their outstanding. These events changed my future, and for a while there I grew pretty nihilistic, but it looks like there may be a reason here or there for at least a few things in life, such as they are. I tried to look for Adrienne White, the recruiter who promised me $40-65 dollars an hour and fast employment, while she was trying to get me enrolled, also promised specific titles which I have also attached. Ive been trying to get these student loans taken care of until I found this website and I applied. NOTE: This is the official Government website for the program, so you can trust it. That turned out to be utterly untrue., In fact, I continually emailed and called the career assistance office for years after my graduation attempting to get work and I never did. I am stuck in tying the lawsuit on AI to the BDAR. Is it possible to list both within my claim? It was hell and crazy, I was mislead and told that I would get a refund of around $6,000 because the school was closing early without a longer warning so they would discount my quarter by 50% meaning that Id have left over financial aid money that I could take home and apply to my student loans. When they asked about this, they say she promised as soon as he graduates, hes guaranteed a job, and hell make around $60,000/year. They also promised to help place him in a job upon graduation. Well since the school closed for good, I am having trouble getting my loan wipe out. They also talked about all the other amenities they would offer to help him succeed. Id make sure to explain EXACTLY what they showed you, who showed it to you, when it happened, where you were when it happened and how it changed your decision making process about borrowing money to attend the school. I took 2 quarters off. I am not a representative of the US government or the US Department of Education. The job market is hard and so is the economy and the housing in California. Great Lakes is a servicer of both types of loans, and if your loans are Private, then they probably wont be eligible for the Closed School Discharge or the Borrowers Defense to Repayment Discharge. Hi Tim, Thanks for creating this site. This time around I got Financial aid, federal loans and grants. Check out my Guide on the Federal Student Loan Rehabilitation Program, and look at my Guide on Federal Student Loan Default Help. Please try again later. Did they lie to you about something? For my claim and my parents claim, if we hammer on the fact that AI broke the law, specifically Oregon Deceptive Trade Practices Laws by using fake graduate employment rates. Be very specific when explaining how the school misled and tricked you into thinking that it was a good idea to take out the student loan to attend their programs. This is why she cosigned. Unfortunately, it doesnt sound like the school did anything illegal here. Let me give you one quick piece of advice the best way to deal with your Art Institute-related student loans is probably not sitting around waiting for the lawsuit to be resolved, or even submitting a BDAR Application that could take years to be processed and approved. The Attorney General's office is seeking restitution for students and an order prohibiting NEIA from continuing to harm former students, including the collection of outstanding student debt. Thank you. According to the settlement, borrowers who file a borrower defense claim after June 22 but before the final approval of the settlement may also qualify for debt cancellation. I applied for a Federal forgiveness program in the 1990s and was told Im not in the system. While I cant find any proof about the job placement, grad rates, or accreditations (I threw out all of that) I was promised. I am fighting to get the AI loans wipe out, and it is harder to do it! Do you think I would be eligible to get some are all of this money back since my loan has officially been paid off? They were quite misleading about employment prospects and their job placement assistance was of little help the best moment being when, despite my actual field of study, I was given a lead to a job dressing mannequins. I never finished the degree due to several deaths in the immediate family and the loans are now about 10 years old. But I do remember the conversations. I attended the Art Institutes online division for Game art and design right after I graduated high school in 2009, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into or grasp of how loans worked backed then. Our office took this action to hold this deceptive for-profit school accountable for cheating students. And I am still not able to find a job in the field or with enough pay to pay back the $90k in debt that I have from the school. I know I can apply for the Borrowers Defense to Repayment program. Provide as much context as you possibly can! Thank you so much for all of the information!! Thanks, this is EXACTLY what we went through with our son at the Art Institute of Portland. On top of the fact that I am still in constant back and hip pain over my car accident makes it harder to find work. So I pursue the online one. From what I understand this should not be something we have to pay for it should be free. You might be able to find some good hard evidence of misleading claims. The class action was brought by a group of more than 200,000 student borrowers, assisted by the Project on Predatory Student Lending, part of the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School. You will need to emphasize that the school did these things to you. And graduation was in 2001? The department announced in June that it canceled $5.8 billion in federal student loan debt belonging to former Corinthian Colleges students. I graduated from ai-hollywood in 2015 (I got a bachelors in fashion marketing & Management). However, they agreed to pay almost $200 million dollars, which is basically as good as admitting their guilt, and which you can use for your Borrowers Defense argument. We both went to the Art Institute in Costa Mesa from 2006-2008. This program is getting much faster responses than the Borrowers Defense Program, as Betsy DeVos hasnt been able to crush it like she did to BDAR and PSLF, so my advice is to try submitting an application and seeing if that works out. For additional ideas and more information about all the ugly details of what the school did wrong, be sure to read the official US government press release here. The school's parent company, Education Management Corp., based in Pennsylvania, announced in May 2015 that the Brookline school would be one of more than 50 institutions it planned to shutter. I think It was about a month or two I had attended before dropping. Then lost the baby and moved back in with her dad. I was honestly terrified of my financial aid advisors. Were you still a student at the time the school closed down? This means that if your student loans are forgiven you will then be left with a big payout to the Internal Revenue Service. I cant get anyone on the phone at the fort lauderdale so i have to call another art institute for help. I transferred to the school from an accredited sister campus in Seattle, which was at the time accredited. Anything other than the things that these schools have been getting taken to task for is pie in the sky. Are you going after that, or are you pursuing a Borrowers Defense to Repayment Discharge? Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. To top that off half way through his education the professor passed away so my son who was studying yatch and marine design now was being educated by the culinary professor. I attended the Art Institute of Fort Worth in 2011 and in 2013 they told everyone in my Interior Design program, the program will be getting shut down because there were not enough students in the program and the only options we had were to 1. transfer to another art institute 2. The intervenors asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a final appeal on April 4, 2023. Im hoping to get out from under this felt for an education I didnt get! Is this institution eligible for one of the discharge programs? I then explained to Rudy Diaz who was the last person I spoke too that I would seek legal representation cause the situation was completely unprofessional and above all illegal. Its been 34 years of harassment. Whatever you do, dont file a claim anywhere else! She then decided to move in with me and I was required to fill out paperwork confirming she lived with me, so she could qualify for low income discounts. Is it still relevant? I cannot remember whom I spoke to but I think it was the admissions office that led me to apply for the ridiculous loans. Are your loans Federal or Private? As I mentioned above, you might qualify to have your student loans written off via the Closed School Loan Discharge Program if you were a student at the school when it closed or if you left the school no more than 120 days prior to the day it closed. The lawsuit, according to the Boston Business Journal which first reported on it, accused the now closed for-profit college of fraud, saying it misrepresented how successful its graduates were in finding work in their fields of study. My degree is useless. The screenshots from the wayback machine are vital, but even the anecdotal quotes of things like promising job placement, a certain salary, etc., are going to be important to include. I opted out and quit school because there was no way I was going to continue getting into debt after what had happen. This was the Art Institute of Phx. It offers full-time, part-time, evening and online classes. While I have those, my main concern is my private loans held with two different providers. Regards, Tasha. The Borrowers Defense Against Repayment program was created to help people who took out loans in order to attend schools that broke the law in order to convince them to attend the school. I attended in the late 90s early 2000s, so Im not sure if I can qualify for forgiveness, but Im going to try. Im not sure I qualify, but they were very misleading. Good question, but this may unfortunately be one of those fringe cases where youre basically out of luck. We were also told by the president of the school that we could go back at any point and study new programs that were not taught at that time. We didnt know about the BDAR prior to that. Any advise that could help would be amazing. I have a ton of information about the Closed School Loan Discharge Program here. Theres definitely a chance of getting your loans forgiven, but youll have to put together a much stronger legal case than what you outlined here. At The College Investor, we want to help you navigate your finances. I just paid off my loan for The Art Institute of Los Angeles this year ( I started paying back the $20k in 2002). I would apply to it because it sounds like you have a shot there. As soon as I was in, I was constantly getting harassed about my high school diploma because it didnt have a date on the signed part of the diploma and kept pushing me to get the info from my school district I had graduated. Definitely go for Borrowers Defense. Is this correct? Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Will I be able to even though I graduated in September? Good morning Tim, I just came across this informative article today and not sure if Im too late however my situation is, I attended the Art Institute of NYC from OCT 2006 and graduated DEC 2009. At some point it has to cease as realistically I will never have the opportunity to make enough money to pay this loan back and live comfortably. I can say without a doubt that the costa mesa campus specifically overpromised in every single category. My School Did This To Me: Predatory Recruitment 2. I have so many horror stories from this place and the fact that ther interest rate ended up being so much higher than I understood had made sure that Ill never EVER pay them off. I would still try filing a Borrowers Defense Application, but the odds are pretty low that itll work. I went to the Art Institute CA Sac. The company that owns the Art Institutes, Educational Management Corporation, was accused of violating US consumer protection laws, and in 2015, they agreed to forgive up to $103 million in student loan debt. It was a long time ago so the hardest part for me is remembering the specific details of what was said to me. Too much liability. If you are covered in the class, youre automatically in it. I cant buy a house, I couldnt be on the lease for my own car, I can never have even the smallest of in-store credit cards because this school and the system have completely ruined me for life. Is it enough to mainly have attached websites of their fraudulence? In the end though, the choice is up to you. They ended up giving me a list of schools that were take art institute student credits The school I ended up choosing didnt take any of my Fort lauderdale credits only the New England ones. Newer. sorry for any grammatical mistakes. Stress the fact that the school lied to you and that this was the only reason you decided to take out the student loan, or your application may not be approved. We are both in collections at this point and on payment plans. I tried filling out the BDAR application but apparently its not available at this time? He has Aspergers Syndrome and completed the four year program on time (something to be proud of , I guess, considering the actual graduation rates) to get his BA in Game Art Design in July of 2017 only to find that there was virtually no after graduation support from the school nor any eal employment prospects. For your Private loan, I would recommend contacting McCarthy Law PLC, a group of attorneys who specialize in handling private student debt. I do think this might be enough, and I would absolutely pursue BDAR. If so this could affect those who are applying for the Closed School Discharge due to the exception: The closed schools loss of accreditation; The closed schools discontinuation of the majority of its academic programs; Action by the State to revoke the closed schools license to operate or award academic credentials in the State; or A finding by a State or Federal government agency that the closed school violated State or Federal law while you (or the student) were enrolled at the school. I remember the brochures talked about their job success ratings, helping students find work during attendance and after graduation which they didnt. Thanks Roberta Petrocci. I attended The Art Institute Of Pittsburgh Online Division from Spring 2007 to Winter 2011. I would absolutely pursue this in your case, and just make sure to provide as much evidence as possible for your story. They NEVER told us that once you are 24 you are no longer eligible for that type of loan. they told me a Lot of things that were lies to just get me to sign on the dotted line and my life has been a struggle ever since. I went to the art institute from 2011 to 2013 I did not finish at the school because of a mental health problem and they told me I needed to take a break (basically I was kicked out) I am about to finish my BA an university this spring. You should be using either the Borrowers Defense to Repayment Program or the Closed School Loan Discharge Program to get your loans wiped out. I felt so guilty about them footing the bill, I took a semester off to reaccess what to do with my life. The school has also closed now too, so itd pretty difficult to access your old transcripts, but you SHOULD still be able to source them somehow. Just make sure that you do a really good job of explaining exactly what you were told, who said it, how it impacted your decision to take out the loans, etc., and you should be on the path to a discharge. You have nothing to lose by attempting a BDAR Discharge, so Id file and hope it works out. In 2022, the Art Institute was one of 153 institutions included in student loan cancellation due to alleged fraud. If you have Federal Student Loans related to one of the Art Institute schools that has now closed down, you may be able to qualify for having your loans forgiven, perhaps even entirely. It has become a burden that I can pay off this loans. I feel screwed over enough after my experience with this school that Id happily take forgiveness or relief of any kind. (Financial Aid event admitted they had messed up) Which option out be the best. - The Project on Predatory Student Lending announced that nearly 900 defrauded former for-profit college students submitted personal testimony in a lawsuit, Sweet v DeVos, against the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Hi Tim i applied to have my loan forgiven back in October. Hi Tim, For some odd reason, the FSA website redirects you to an error message when you actually try to submit an application. I eventually after some weeks, dropped out and wasted my GI BILL Post 9/11 . Shes actually a full-blooded Quarter Horse, but she looked and behaved like an Arab. Rest assured, Art Institute loan forgiveness is 100% legit. The school never applied for accreditation as promised, therefore I was not eligible to work for the government or compete for decent paying jobs. Id think it would not matter since they broke the law in the first place, altering there graduate employment rates in order to convince me to take out loans and attend the school. attend the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Costume Institute gala in 2005. . Are you pushing for a Borrowers Defense Discharge? Therefore, assuming that you qualify for both I would suggest going with the Closed School Loan Discharge Program because the applications to the Borrowers Defense program are taking such a long time to process. Importantly, the court must approve the settlement. You can qualify for Art Institute student loan forgiveness via the The Borrowers Defense To Repayment program or the Closed School Loan Discharge program. Tech has been much longer to me than the useless piece of paper that certifies me as an educated graphic designer. Share Im not making enough money to afford- rent, car, and monthly needs (gas, until bills, food) but I cant afford to pay these loans with my income. The loan has been on deferment for the last few years because we cannot afford to make the payments. The lawsuit alleges that New England Institute of Art (NEIA) and Education Management Corporation (EDMC) actively targeted and aggressively recruited prospective students by misrepresenting job placement rates, its capacity to provide job search assistance, and the availability of financial aid. All we want is for these loans to disappear. The Art Institute's class-action lawsuit against the EDMC was filed for $11 billion. For details on how this works, visit my page about Student Loan Forgiveness and Taxable Income. I cant take wayback machine screen shots, as this was before standard internet. Its tough, but the more info you can provide the better. Vitry-sur-Seine, city, Val-de-Marne dpartement, Paris rgion, France. He holds a BS in journalism from Northwestern University. 2023 BestColleges.com, a Red Ventures Company, For-Profit College Student Loan Forgiveness List*, The Public Ivies, Little Ivies, and Other Ivy League Equivalents, University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, filed motions to intervene in the case in mid-July, allow the department to begin issuing debt relief, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, International Academy of Design and Technology, Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts, Western School of Health and Business Careers, Southern California School of Culinary Arts, Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Miami International University of Art & Design, Chicago School of Professional Psychology, New England College of Business and Finance. You can apply to have your student loan discharged via the Closed School Loan Discharge Program by going to this website. I was 4 classes away from graduating!! Sign up for the free newsletter and get more breaking Boston Area news and news alerts like this direct to your inbox. However, the CSLD states the following: If you withdrew more than 120 days before the school closed you may be eligible for this form of discharge if the department determines that exceptional circumstances related to the schools closing justify an extension of this 120 day period. One example indicated on the form is (4) a finding by a state or federal government agency that the closed school violated State or Federal law. Would it not be wise to file CSLD, given that my loaner was the one who provided me the document? The recruiter told me about job placement help and being able to get jobs after graduating. They kept telling him to look on craigslist. Summer fashion design courses begin June 12, Wet Weather Forecasted This Week In MA: National Weather Service, 2023 Brookline Election: Everything To Know Before Election Day. What about this: My daughter who was in her fathers sole care and custody signed up at the Sacramento Art institute at the age of 18 years old. You definitely need to try for a BDAR Discharge. Several times I was told by the idiot job placement advisor that I should start with unpaid internships, and suggested to me several places where I could work as a SECRETARY, and not a designer to make connections. On the very first day of school I went downstairs, completely distraught because one of the expert instructions (an unknown graphic designer whose only real talent was in typography) said that people who were interested in becoming illustrators, or comic book artists were in the wrong program. I told one of the office people who worked in recruiting this and said, I really dont think this is right for me. She sweet- talked me into continuing with the promise of a future making more than $80,000 a year, promised that I would get a job by inflating the number of students who gets jobs even higher than 80% so she could keep me on the hook. 9. Like others in this post I have been promised to be making over 50K after I graduate and as everyone my loans reached over 90k as we had to keep getting more loans for more software, textbooks and other necessities for classes. I was also a dumb 19 year old at the time so i was pretty denseand i suspect they did not really care. Yeah, youre going to have to remember more details than what you outlined here. DO NOT GET YOUR FORM FROM ANYWHERE ELSE! Okay thanks! Use quotes to show exactly what they said and make it very, very clear that you were being promised something specific here; a set salary. I withdrew from school (and after touring it was so happy I did) and never attended a single day. The Borrowers Defense Against Repayment Program 2. Which was something I held on to for the rest of my last quarter up until the last week of school when I was told that the school returned that money to my lenders, which doesnt make sense because my student loans are completely the same amount. Like you mentioned there are a lot of scammers. Last month, the US Department of Justice filed a massive lawsuit against the company behind the schools, Education Management Corporation, accusing it of fraudulently collecting $11 billion in. And I was a student with the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division. I filed the loan discharge papers to our loan provider, and was told we were ineligible due to the Dept of Education had not notified them of the school closure. This program is for students of schools that closed before they could finish their degree. Im goin through the process with both loans school closure and Borrowers defense I received a letter for the school closure loan today saying that i need a letter on letterhead paper from the school stating that they closed the art institute we never received that from Tinley or Schaumburg yes weve been through both and still have nothing to show for anything I really would like to discuss this with you is there any way we could talk Im ready to beat my head off the wall over this stuff its ridiculous it just makes me sick please get back with me my number is (555) 555-5555 If you can talk with me or if you prefer me to type all my stuff out I can do that I just need some real advice. Hi Tim, I attended The Art Institute of California and graduated in 2008. 9. They refused almost every credit hour Id gotten up to that point. Talking about things like low quality teachers, classes that didnt feel professional, etc., wont work youll need much more specific claims about some kind fraudulent behavior on the schools part, false advertising, made up statistics, claims that they couldnt back up with data, etc. Parent PLUS Loans fall into a weird, strange category of their own. Dont bother with BDAR. I applied and I hope to get good news. Im removing your phone number from this comment for privacy purposes. BOSTON, M.A. Ive been paying my debt off, but the amount is well beyond the true cost of the degree. You wont qualify for a Closed School Discharge because you left too far away from the time they shut down, but you may be able to qualify for a Borrowers Defense Discharge. Hi Tim, I applied to the Art Institute of NYC, I filled out the application and was told I needed to take out a student loan without a cosigner. I am no longer employed and she does not make enough to make payments. As of September 2022, ED says it has now approved $14.5 billion in debt discharges for nearly 1.1 million borrowers through this process. I attended The Art Institute Online Division from 2008-2013 for Media Arts and Animation as well as Interior Design and Architecture. Im retired and disable and they sent me a letter today to garnish my Social Security benefits. However, I would still TRY to apply for the Closed School Discharge Program if I were you, hoping that it will include a refund. I have brief emails from the Assistant admissions director when we first set up the information meeting and can also provide her name, that is all i really have though. I also supplied them with paperwork that has date discrepancies. EDMC refused to admit that they had done anything wrong. You didnt give me any info to help me decide either way. Seems like your comment got cut off early? It would be impossible to name them. Bad experiences, weird policy changes, its all a bad product or experience, but not grounds for having your loan discharged. Thanks so much in advance for your help! Yeah, you dont sign up for it. Hi Tim, Im trying to help my husband possibly apply for BDAR. This wouldnt be enough to get an approval for a BDAR application. Hi Tim! Will I get a email? Zach! My daughter is eligible to apply for this. I loved the look of that horse, but I sure do not miss her bad behavior! I hope you managed to turn a profit off your lawsuit! The only way that youre going to be eligible for forgiveness is if you can prove that you qualify for a Borrower Defense to Repayment Discharge. Fast forward 2018, she moved up to Pittsburgh, PA and re-enrolled at The Art Institute here and they closed less than a year later. She went with a member of her paternal family and signed up. You need to pick one or the other. Did they tell you that their graduates had some set job placement rate in their field of study? If you have any insight as to how I can describe this in my claim I would greatly appreciate it. Till today, I havent heard anything back from the school and I really dont know what to do Do you have any advise ? Those sorts of guarantees are DEFINITELY a violation, and certainly a good argument for a BDAR Discharge. Thoughts? Thank you so much for your help. the Borrowers defense application. Hi. New England Institute of Art Ross University School of Medicine University of Phoenix The full list of covered schools can be found here. Id still try to submit a BDAR Application and just include as much detail as you can. Hello Thank you soo much for creating this page and all the hard work you are doing . Advertisement. Because of this change, which no one at the school could really explain to me in depth, I had to repeat classes that I had already taken. Its basically youre only option and you have nothing to lose! If youve graduated, then you will NOT be eligible for a Closed School Loan Discharge. She has new ownership now after one too many refusals to cross dry creek beds and several near death experiences due to her anxiety responses to everyday events like garage doors opening, people getting out of cars, etc.