Education Department to erase $5.8B in student loans for borrowers with disabilities

Aug. 19 (UPI) -- The Education Department on Thursday announced it will automatically discharge student loans for borrowers who have total and permanent disabilities.

The action will affect more than 323,000 borrowers who are identified through an existing match with the Social Security Administration and erase about $5.8 billion in student debt beginning in September.

Also Thursday, the Education Department said it would indefinitely extend a policy to stop asking borrowers with total and permanent disabilities to provide information on their earnings and seek to eliminate the requirement of a three-year income monitoring period.

U.S. law allows anyone who is declared totally and permanently disabled by a physician, the Social Security Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs to have their federal student loans discharged.

Read more: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/08/19/Education-Department-erase-58-million-student-loans-borrowers-disabilities/1281629410651/