The COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking financial havoc on millions of student loan borrowers.  Debt cancellation is the best way to protect them now and ensure that they recover along with the economy.  Our work has taught us that low-income borrowers and borrowers of color were already struggling with unaffordable student debt and default before getting […]

‘The injustice of the federal government withholding disability benefits for people who it knows are totally and permanently disabled and entitled to debt relief is hard to comprehend.’ by Alex Elson Too often, political blinders thwart commonsense policies that everyone should support. That is why the Trump administration’s decision last month to automatically discharge student […]

Many of the 44 million borrowers are struggling to repay their more than $1.4 trillion in student loan debt in the United States. The options for federal student loan borrowers can be good, but as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s many reports and recent lawsuit against Navient demonstrate, accessing those options can be a confusing […]

As recently as this April, we explained that Congress chose not to roll back the important protections for defrauded student loan borrowers provided by the Department of Education’s borrower defense rules. Unfortunately, the Department has not only delayed implementation of the bulk of the borrower defense and gainful employment rules, but has also announced that […]

Earlier this week, over 150 Members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos highlighting concerns surrounding the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) decision to make changes to the student loan servicing contract procurement process. A month after withdrawing guidance intending to ensure greater consumer protections in the contracting process for student […]

Last Thursday, President Trump announced his budget plan, which includes some dramatic changes for student loan borrowers. One of these big changes is to income-driven repayment. The budget proposes to eliminate the multiple existing income-driven repayment plans and replace them with a single income-driven repayment plan. The proposed plan offers some pros and cons. However, […]

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 death is not exempt. There are limited exceptions to taxation […]

There are no easy answers for former ITT Tech students struggling with student loan debt, but there are a number of actions these students can consider to try to get rid of any unfair debt. Closed School Discharge, Borrower Defenses, State Tuition Recovery Funds In previous posts, we discussed the key options for the tens […]

Since the election of Donald Trump for President, we have heard from many people asking us, “what does this mean for student loan borrowers.” The honest answer is that we do not yet know. We have very little actual information about what the next administration plans, and it is still too early to speculate.  The […]

The rules around closed school discharges can be confusing—for students and for those trying to assist them—and good information can unfortunately be hard to find.  We have heard that a lot of incorrect information is circulating on message boards.  It’s important to know the facts before making a decision about transferring credits or applying for […]