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Nearly 300 former students at shuttered law school are eligible for discharge of student loans

Charlotte School of Law. ABA Journal file photo by Albert Dickson.

Nearly a dozen additional students who were enrolled at the now-shuttered Charlotte School of Law will be eligible for discharge of their federal student loans as a result of an extension granted by the U.S. Department of Education.

Nearly 300 former students in total are eligible for forgiveness of the federal loans, according to a press release by the U.S. Department of Education. The Charlotte Observer, WFAE and Inside Higher Ed have stories.

Typically, students who meet certain requirements can have their federal loans forgiven if they are enrolled when a school closes or if they withdrew from the school not more than 120 days from the closure date.

The Education Department extended the 120-day window to 224 days for Charlotte School of Law students. That means that students who withdrew from the law school on or after Dec. 31, 2016, are eligible for loan forgiveness.

Federal authorities had barred Charlotte School of Law students from participating in the federal loan program in mid-December, 2016. The previous month, the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions announced it had put the school on probation. The school closed in August.

Members of Congress from North Carolina had sought the broader window for loan forgiveness.