The Biden administration is canceling $72 million in student loans for 2,300 borrowers who say they were cheated by Ashford University, a former for-profit college that was purchased by the University of Arizona in 2020.
The U.S. Department of Education announced the action Wednesday, saying it will seek to recoup the money from the University of Arizona.
The university denies any liability, saying in a statement that it had “absolutely no involvement in, and is not directly or indirectly responsible for, the actions of Ashford and its parent company” and will be “assessing its options.”
Before its sale, Ashford was an online for-profit college that enrolled more than 100,000 students. It was owned by the company Zovio and based in San Diego.
A California court in 2022 found that Ashford frequently lied to students to get them to enroll. Its recruiters misled students about the college’s accreditation, costs and the amount of time it would take to graduate, the court concluded.
That lawsuit, brought by the state of California, was the basis of the Education Department’s cancellation.
President Joe Biden said his administration “won’t stand for colleges taking advantage of hardworking students and borrowers.”
“These borrowers were lied to about the cost of attending Ashford, were misled about how long it would take to get a degree, and were deceived about the transferability of Ashford credits,” Biden said in a statement. “They deserve better.”
