Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Department of Education’s recommended transfer options for former Corinthian Colleges students include other embattled for-profit institutions —​ even though the department wouldn’t have let those schools purchase Corinthian.
• Critics say the department is doing all it can to minimize the number of students who don’t transfer credits, a move that would make them eligible for a student loan discharge, the Huffington Post reports.
• More than a dozen for-profit schools on the transfer opportunities list are owned by companies under investigation by state or federal agencies, many for the same practices the department attacked Corinthian for, according to the Huffington Post.

Dive Insight:

If all of the students recently displaced by Corinthian Colleges’ sudden closure of its remaining 28 campuses do not successfully transfer credits to finish their degrees elsewhere, the federal government could be on the hook for $214 million in discharged student loans. Students have to know they can apply for debt relief, however, and that is not a given. Of all people negatively affected by experiences at higher education institutions, though, these Corinthian students may have the most support, with elected officials advocating for them at all levels.