An offshoot group of the Occupy Wall Street movement paid off $3.86 million in loans owed by 2,761 students of a Corinthian Colleges Inc. school, according to reports.
A crowd-funded group called Rolling Jubilee paid less than $107,000—three cents on the dollar—to a third party who had bought the debt. Rolling Jubilee then forgave the loans.
A non-disclosure agreement prevents the third party from being named, the reports said.
The paid-off debts came to about $1,400 for each of Everest College students. It cost Rolling Jubilee about $42, on average, to settle the debts of the 2,761 students, based on the discounted rate.
Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc. is winding down operations in the wake of government allegations of various misdeeds on lending and advertising.
Corinithian denies the allegations. It’s been trying to raise money to ease a cash crunch and continue operating by selling some of the student loans it holds.
Rolling Jubilee began raising money two years ago to pay various kinds of debt at discounts. It had collected about $700,000 through last year, when it stopped raising funds.
The group bought $13.5 million in medical debt and $1.2 million in personal debt last year, paying a total of $400,000 and forgiving those loans as well.
