After a federal judge struck down billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ attempt to gut protections for students scammed by for-profit colleges, the Department of Education announced on Thursday that—because of the court mandate—it is canceling $150 million in student loan debt for around 15,000 defrauded borrowers.

“The Department of Education illegally delayed implementation of the 2016 borrower defense rule, but because our clients in Bauer v. DeVos were willing to fight back, 15,000 students are finally getting the relief they are owed,” said Toby Merrill, director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending, which represented the students leading the legal fight against DeVos.

While celebrating the Education Department’s cancellation of $150 million in student loan debt as a “good first step” in a statement on Thursday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)—top Democrat on the Senate Education Committee—added that “it’s not good enough.”

“It’s disappointing that it took a court order to get Secretary DeVos to begin providing debt relief to students left in the lurch by predatory for-profit colleges, but I am pleased the department has finally started implementing [the borrower defense] rule and that some of the borrowers who attended schools like Corinthian Colleges and ITT Tech are finally getting their loans cancelled,” Murray said.

“It should not have taken litigation to force the department to do its job to protect students.”
—Adam Pulver, Public Citizen Litigation Group