Over 323,000 Disabled Borrowers to Receive Billions in Student Loan Discharges

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In an article posted at the Southeast ADA Center, it was announced that over 323,000 borrowers who have a total and permanent disability (TPD) will receive more than $5.8 billion in automatic student loan discharges due to a new regulation announced today by the U.S. Department of Education (Department). The change will apply to borrowers who are identified through an existing data match with the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stated "Today’s action removes a major barrier that prevented far too many borrowers with disabilities from receiving the total and permanent disability discharges they are entitled to under the law."

This new regulation allows the Department to provide automatic TPD discharges for borrowers who are identified through administrative data matching by removing the requirement for these borrowers to fill out an application before receiving relief. The Department removed this application barrier in 2019 for borrowers identified as eligible for a TPD discharge through the match with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). However, it had not yet done so for those identified through the data match with SSA. As a result, only about half of borrowers identified as eligible for TPD through the SSA match have received the discharge, causing thousands to stay in repayment or possibly even default.