WASHINGTON —Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released the following statement as 1,312 former students of the collapsed Corinthian Colleges, Inc. system are notified that they will receive $27,832,370 in debt relief from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Murphy, who recently introduced the Students Before Profits Act to protect students and taxpayers from deceptive practices in the for-profit college sector, called on ED to expand the scope of their debt-relief program, and discharge the loans of all Corinthian students who have submitted borrower defense claims.

The ED’s announcement comes just weeks after Murphy and his colleagues requested that ED grant immediate, class-wide relief to former Corinthian College students after a federal district court ruling that the for-profit college chain broke federal consumer protection laws. 

“Corinthian students are victims of fraud – they have been scammed out of an education and tens of thousands of dollars by unethical, money-hungry executives. We need to hold these abusive colleges and their executives accountable, and stand up for the students who fell victim to the deceptive practices of bad actors. It’s the Department of Education’s responsibility to protect every student – not a lucky few. So while their decision to provide relief to 1,300 students is a good start, it’s not enough. There are tens of thousands of other students across this country who, under the law, are entitled to this same relief, and I will work closely with the Education Department to ensure that we provide it to them as soon as possible.”

Former Corinthian College students seeking debt relief who have not submitted claims should visit www.studentaid.gov/Corinthian for more information.