TEHRAN, November 20 -Earlier this year, tens of thousands of disabled U.S. veterans became eligible to have their student loans entirely forgiven -- but more than half are in default, new figures show.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -Earlier this year, tens of thousands of disabled U.S. veterans became eligible to have their student loans entirely forgiven -- but more than half are in default, new figures show.
In April, the Education Department and Veterans Administration announced they would identify disabled student loan borrowers eligible for forgiveness and total and permanent disability, or TPD, discharge.
A Freedom of Information Act request filed by the nonprofit Veterans Education Success showed more than 25,000 of 42,000 disabled vets eligible for student loan forgiveness -- because of 100 percent disability or classified as Individually Unemployable -- were in default of $168 million in outstanding loans.
Further, only about one-fifth of those eligible borrowers had applied for forgiveness by May, the federal aid data showed.
This month, a group of six veterans groups -- including Veterans Education Success and Vietnam Veterans of America -- sent Education Secretary Betsy DeVos a letter saying the paperwork required for forgiveness is dissuading some from taking advantage. The benefit should be automatic, it argues.
Obstacles for veterans
Experts say disabled vets eligible for forgiveness face a number of obstacles in applying.
"They could be facing a lack of knowledge about the law in their particular state ... they could have serious health problems that are preventing them from filling out paperwork and getting it back to the department of education, there could be lots of reasons why they're unable to take advantage of this," Mike Saunders, director of military and consumer policy at Veterans Education Success, told UPI.
One of the main reasons vets groups say the process is unfair is because many live with "catastrophic disabilities" that make it challenging. Many paralyzed vets and those with severe brain injuries have a tough time completing the paperwork on their own.
Advocates also say despite the public announcement in April, a lot of the eligible veterans simply don't know they qualify to have their loans dismissed -- which is another argument, they say, for automatic forgiveness.
Rick Weidman, executive director for policy and government affairs at Vietnam Veterans of America, said there "hasn't been any meaningful effort" by the Education Department to get the word out, and the VA has also been "derelict" on the issue.
"They've done a bad job -- or no job at all. It's a source of real irritation on our part because they're putting young people in a situation where they're strapped with this huge debt for no reason," he said.
Weidman said the department should make more effort to notify vets, both electronically and by mail.
"In many cases they have people's email address and they don't use it, they have their home address and they don't use it to send out letters that say right up front, 'These options are available to you, explore them by clicking on the links provided.'"
The Education Department, though, says all veteran borrowers receive multiple notifications and are strongly encouraged to make sure their federal student loan servicer has their most up-to-date contact information.
Source: UPI
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