The Department of Education recently announced that veterans and service members who have student loans may be eligible to have the interest forgiven on their loans. And in some circumstances, they may be able to get their entire loan liability canceled.
The Department of Education said they are currently working to provide these benefits automatically, meaning there would be no action needed from the veteran or service member to get the benefits applied.
In their press release, the Department of Education laid out who may be eligible to have their interest forgiven, along with who may be able to receive total forgiveness of their student loans.
First, they stated they will write off the interest on student loans for 47,000 veterans and service members who received imminent danger or hostile fire pay while they were serving.
Federal law specifies that service members deployed to areas qualifying them for imminent danger or hostile fire pay do not have to pay interest on certain federal student loans received on or after Oct. 1, 2008. Previously, to receive this interest waiver, a member had to request it and provide proof of their eligibility by providing orders or a leave and earnings statement (LES) as proof.
Recently, however, the Department of Education initiated a data sharing agreement with the Defense Department, allowing the agency to determine automatically who is eligible for the interest waiver and forgive any interest erroneously charged to service members or veterans. The interest waiver is retroactive to 2008.
via Military.com
Furthermore, the Department of Education stated more than 323,000 totally disabled borrowers will have their entire student loans forgiven. Veterans receiving disability benefits from the VA, as well as those receiving disability from the Social Security Administration, are included.
In total this amounts to around $5.8 billion that will be forgiven.
Similar to how the interest is being forgiven, the Department of Education will automatically apply the total loan forgiveness for those who are eligible.
If you’d like to get more information you can contact your lender directly.
are vets grandchildren eligible for student’s loan
are vet’s grandchildren eligible for student’s loans
I Celeste Edna-Rae Miller need Montgomery GI bill benefits to cover my past student loans. Ursuline College, Cleveland State University,I.T.T. Technical Institute, Stratford Institute.
You guys missed the mark and have slighted many men who volunteered to serve their country for four years. You have forgot that many of them put their lives on the line (I was not one of them) even though the time they served did not fall within the time frames that were established. You did however award many cooks and bottle washers who never came near any danger, and gave them benefits because of the time frame they served in.
There are more than men that served in the military and that are put in danger so before you go writing anything get all the information right
I am a 70% disabled vet. Should I also be entitled for student loan forgiveness. I served my country and am very proud to be a vet. I will be dead and buried before this Loan is paid off.
I am an Iraqi War combat veteran. Is there a way that my wife can be eligible to not pay any interest on her student loans since she’s my spouse?
Who can we contact about student loans
How does this benefit apply to veteran cosigners of student loans for a child?
I am a spouse of a 100% disabled Vietnam Veteran. I am a 10 yr. Special Ed. Teacher with student loan debt. Is there some relief for us, for me to get my student loans forgiven? Thank you!
I am veteran who is receiving social security disability. I am permanently disabled but it is not service connected. I have a private student loan with Navient. Will it be forgiven? I will be dead and buried before it will be paid off and then it will pass to my daughter to pay off.
The forgiveness should apply to all HONORABLY DISCHARGED VETERANS because they also served their country and although they may not have been injured while on active duty, they nevertheless put their lives on the line for this country. I served 13 years of honorable service and gave up a lot of personal freedoms while doing so. Who should veterans like us contact to have someone advocate for us all?