New York (CNN) The Department of Education said Thursday that it would wipe away student debt for 15,000 borrowers, implementing an Obama-era rule that Secretary Betsy DeVos has fought to block for more than a year.

The debt cancellations will total about $150 million.

The rule, known as Borrower Defense to Repayment, was designed to help students cheated by for-profit colleges get relief on their education debt.

The announcement comes about two months after a federal judge ordered immediate implementation of the rule . The judge had sided with attorneys general from 18 states and the District of Columbia who sued DeVos for delaying the rule while she worked on rewriting it.

Those students who will immediately see their loans canceled were at schools that closed while they were enrolled. About half of the debt was owed by borrowers who attended one of the now defunct for-profit Corinthian Colleges.

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