Trump Eases Student Loan Forgiveness For Disabled Veterans

(Politico) MICHAEL STRATFORD 08/21/2019 05:59 PM President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed the Education Department to more easily forgive the federal student loans owed by veterans with disabilities making a move Education Secretary Betsy DeVos had resisted for months. Veterans and other student loan borrowers who are totally and permanently" disabled are entitled under existing law to have their federal student loans canceled by the Education Department. But they previously had to fill out paperwork to have their loans discharged a bureaucratic obstacle that veterans advocates slammed as too burdensome for many severely disabled veterans. Trump said he was taking executive action to ensure that our wounded warriors are not saddled with mountains of student debt" vowing to eliminate every penny of federal student loan debt owed by American veterans who are completely and permanently disabled." The debt of these disabled veterans will be entirely erased" Trump said during remarks at a veterans convention in Louisville Ky. It will be gone." The move will wipe out hundreds of millions" in student loan debt owed by more than 25000 disabled veterans Trump said. The average amount forgiven would be about $30000 he said. DeVos last year took steps to more easily identify which veterans were eligible for the benefit and send them letters. But her agency still required eligible veterans to fill out paperwork before actually canceling the loans despite bipartisan calls to change the process. Under the new expedited" process announced by the Trump administration on Wednesday the Education Department will automatically identify veterans eligible for loan forgiveness and give them the option to opt out for 60 days before moving ahead with canceling the debt.