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Capitol Correspondence - 08.24.21

DOE Announces New Regulation For Automatic Total and Permanent Disability Discharges

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Lydia Dawson

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced a new regulation which would allow automatic student loan discharges for borrowers who meet standards for total and permanent disability.

The new regulation allows DOE to provide automatic discharge for borrowers who are identified through administrative data matching. DOE already provides these discharges through match with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the rule change will allow further matching with data from the Social Security Administration. Prior to the rule change, borrowers were required to fill out an application in order to receive relief.

DOE has already identified an additional 323,000 borrowers under the new policy, totaling $5.8 billion in automatic student loan discharges. The change will go into effect with the next quarterly data match to occur in September.