Getting rid of student loan debt is no easy task for anyone, but consider the possibility of a worker becoming unable to work due to a medical impairment and having no way to make payments without steady income, something that has happened to millions of Americans.
Discharging student loan debt is possible, not easy, but it is possible and the administration of President Joe Biden is trying to make discharging loads due to disability much easier. A new plan was issued by the Department of Education. Currently, the Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) discharge program provides student loan forgiveness to borrowers due to disability, but the rules are stringent and it is difficult to qualify for the program. Below are some of the key changes the Biden Administration wants to implement to make it easier to qualify for a discharge of student loans.
- Eliminate Post-Discharge Income Monitoring. Under the new rules, the Department would eliminate the three-year post-discharge income monitoring period. This would codify temporary changes made by the Biden administration earlier this year to eliminate income monitoring during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Expand Who Can Certify a Disability. The Department would streamline the TPD Discharge application process by allowing more medical professionals including nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants, and psychologists to certify a borrower’s disability. Currently, only medical doctors (MD) or doctors of osteopathic medicine (DO) can certify the TPD Discharge application, which has limited the ability of some borrowers to obtain relief if their primary care provider is someone other than an MD or a DO.
- Expand Eligibility For Recipients of Social Security. For borrowers receiving Social Security disability benefits, the new rules would eliminate the requirement that a borrower’s disability review period be at least five to seven years. Instead, borrowers who have been receiving Social Security disability benefits for at least five years prior to applying for TPD relief, or have a disability onset date at least five years before applying, would be eligible. This would effectively expand the pool of eligibility for disabled borrowers and make it easier for borrowers to show that they qualify for relief.
