Tax on Death and Disability Discharges Is Gone … For Now
February 08, 2018
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Student loan borrowers who apply to have their loans canceled due to their disability or the death of their child can worry about one less thing: possible tax consequences. When a borrower dies or becomes permanently disabled before paying off student loans, the loans can be discharge
Continue Reading →Will Congress Finally Stop Taxing Disabled Student Loan Borrowers and Bereaved Parents?
February 16, 2017
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It is a little known fact that a forgiven student loan is usually treated as income for tax purposes. While some types of student loan cancellations (e.g. Public Service Loan Forgiveness, closed-school, etc.) are exempt from taxation, forgiveness of the debt due to disability and deat
Continue Reading →New Matching Program for Disabled Student Loan Borrowers
December 07, 2015
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We have been calling on the government for years to stop offsetting Social Security benefits of disabled student loan borrowers. Recipients of Social Security Disability (SSDI) payments generally qualify for disability discharges. Yet most do not know about the discharge program and
Continue Reading →Department of Education: Don’t Forget Borrowers with Disabilities and Grieving Parents
October 01, 2015
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Today, the Department of Education released a new report outlining a series of statutory, regulatory, and administrative recommendations in response to President Obama’s Student Aid Bill of Rights. There are some good recommendations for borrowers (e.g. see the recommendation t
Continue Reading →Helping Disabled Borrowers Find Relief
July 10, 2015
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The Obama Administration announced a number of relief options for borrowers this week, including new ways to help disabled borrowers. This has been overshadowed by other news on student loans this week, but it is criticially important. We have been calling on the Administration for
Continue Reading →New and Improved Department of Education Disability Discharge Process
November 28, 2012
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We have long argued that the Department of Education should tie its standards for student loan disability discharges to Social Security standards. At last, we are starting to see some progress in this area. Some changes are already in effect, but most will not kick in until next year
Continue Reading →Older Borrowers and Student Loans: One Client’s Experience
April 21, 2012
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This is dedicated to my client Mr. A in hopes that he will keep his dignity and not lose hope. Some basic facts about Mr. A: He is 83 years old and a veteran of the Korean War. His sole source of income is Social Security. He has an unfortunate array of medical problems, both physi
Continue Reading →Creating a Fair Disability Discharge Process
September 02, 2011
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We highly recommend Pro Publica’s latest article on student loan disability discharges. In this article, Sasha Chavkin asked the Department of Education to clarify its position on the most critical disability discharge issue—Will the Department consider Social Security disability det
Continue Reading →Recommendations and Comments for Department of Education Rulemaking
May 24, 2011
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We submitted these comments to the Department of Education last week. We will write a number of articles the next few weeks with more details about key proposals. Our recommendations focus on strengthening relief for borrowers who are harmed by school abuses or who cannot repay due
Continue Reading →Fairness for Disabled Student Loan Borrowers
February 16, 2011
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ProPublica and the Center for Public Integrity published an investigation this week of problems with the Department of Education’s disability discharge process. Unfortunately, we were not surprised by the findings. We have advocated for many years for more transparency in the disabi
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