If your college goes belly under, you too might have your college debt paid for from the tax payer coffers.

U.S. News and World Report writes:

Thousands of students ask government to erase college loans, claiming fraud or school closure

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 3,000 former Corinthian College students will have their college loans erased, the first wave of debt relief tied to the collapse of the for-profit higher education chain. The potential cost to taxpayers if all Corinthian students seek relief: $3.2 billion.

So far, almost 12,000 students have asked the federal government to discharge their college loan debt, asserting that their school either closed or lied to them about job prospects, according to a report released Thursday by the Education Department.

About 3,100 closed-school claims have so far been approved — totaling about $40 million in student loans, the department said.

While unprecedented, the figures represent just a fraction of the students who might qualify for debt relief.

Education Undersecretary Ted Mitchell told reporters in a press call that processing remaining claims will take some time. “Borrowers and taxpayers are counting on us to get this right,” he said.

For 33-year-old Tasha Rincon, a mother of three, relief from her government loans for Corinthian cannot come soon enough.