美国国家公共电台 NPR--The U.S. will forgive $5.8 billion of loans to Corinthian Colleges students

The U.S. will forgive $5.8 billion of loans to Corinthian Colleges students

Transcript¹

The U.S. Department of Education has announced it will automatically erase² the remaining student loan debts of more than half a million borrowers who attended the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Hundreds of thousands of student loan borrowers who attended the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges are getting help from the Biden administration. The U.S. Department of Education says it will erase all of the remaining federal student loans taken out by borrowers to attend a Corinthian campus from the school's founding to its abrupt³ closure. The agency says it is the single-largest act of student loan forgiveness in history. We turn to NPR's Cory Turner for details.

CORY TURNER, BYLINE⁴: During the Obama administration, the Ed Department really started going after predatory for-profit colleges, and Corinthian became kind of the poster child for this type of school. In 2015, the department found that Corinthian had engaged in widespread and pervasive⁵ misrepresentations - those are the department's words - about borrowers' future job prospects⁶, including promises they would find a job. They falsified their public job placement rates, the department said, and they made pervasive misstatements to prospective⁷ students about the ability to transfer credits. Interestingly, Rachel, it was California's then-attorney general, Kamala Harris, who in 2013 sued Corinthian, and that kicked off a chain reaction at the state and federal level that ultimately led to Corinthian shutting down in 2015. And that's also one big reason Vice⁸ President Harris is going to be part of the official announcement of this move later today.

MARTIN: But, I mean, for years, Corinthian borrowers, Cory, have been able to ask the department to forgive their loans, right? How is this different?

TURNER: Yeah, I think this is the most interesting part, really. Under a provision, known as borrower defense⁹, borrowers who have been defrauded¹⁰ by their college can apply to the Ed Department to have their loans discharged, and roughly 100,000 Corinthian borrowers have already done this. What's interesting about today's move is that it throws this application step out the window. So now the Biden administration is literally¹¹ saying if you attended Corinthian between its founding in 1995 and its closing 20 years later, we will erase whatever is left of your loans automatically. The department estimates this is going to help more than half-a-million borrowers by discharging nearly $6 billion in debts, making it what the department says is the single-largest loan discharge it has ever done.

MARTIN: So can you walk us through what the Biden administration has done overall on student loan forgiveness and how this particular discharge with Corinthian Colleges fits into Biden's promises on federal student debt relief?

TURNER: Biden has already made some big changes that, you know, I've reported on this program, big fixes to the public service loan forgiveness program, also to a separate loan discharge program for borrowers with permanent disabilities. And in all, including today's news, the Biden administration has approved $25 billion in loan forgiveness for 1.3 million borrowers. It is not clear, though, Rachel, what this says, if anything, about the possibility of broader student loan forgiveness. You know, pressure has certainly been building on the White House, which has repeatedly leaked to reporters that Biden wants to forgive or plans to forgive $10,000 per borrower with some loose income limits. But I've also heard from a few sources that that decision has not yet been made.

MARTIN: OK. NPR's education correspondent Cory Turner. Cory, thank you.

TURNER: You're welcome, Rachel.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 erase   

v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹

参考例句：

• He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
• Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。

3 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

6 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

7 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 defrauded   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He defrauded his employers of thousands of dollars. 他诈取了他的雇主一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He defrauded them of their money. 他骗走了他们的钱。 来自辞典例句

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。