The U.S. Department of Education said Wednesday that it is cancelling the student loans of thousands of borrowers who attended a big, for-profit college. The loans were taken by students attending an educational organization called ITT Technical Institute, which had 130 campuses around the country. The college was found to have made misleading claims about its graduates’ success in finding jobs. ITT Technical Institute closed in 2016 after the administration of former president Barack Obama barred it from accepting new students. The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is cancelling 18,000 loans of former students of ITT Technical Institute. The federal government’s cost of cancelling the loans is expected to be more than $500 million. The move marks a step by the Biden administration to deal with a lot of claims made through the borrower defense program. The program was not used often until the Department of Education expanded rules for cancelling loans in 2016. It provides loan forgiveness to students with federal student loans who were defrauded by their colleges. During the administration of former President Donald Trump, the government placed higher requirements for students seeking loan forgiveness. It is estimated that there are now more than 100,000 claims waiting to be processed. In announcing the new action, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona promised to continue supporting students with claims. “Our action today will give thousands of borrowers a fresh start and the relief they deserve,” Cardona said in a statement. The action follows an earlier loan cancellation in March. At that time, the Education Department cancelled $1 billion in federal student loans for 72,000 borrowers. Those claims all came from former students of for-profit colleges. Activists were pleased with the new approvals, but called for fast action for thousands of other students with claims. Alex Elson is vice president of Student Defense, a Washington legal group. He said the administration appears to want to help the students. But he said he did not understand why officials were slow “to immediately and automatically help the countless additional borrowers who are still waiting.” Borrower defense is among several education programs targeted for changes by the Biden administration. Cardona is holding a series of hearings this month as his agency considers changes to that policy and others.