Lawmakers are calling for an investigation into a troubled student loan discharge program one day after an NPR report revealed that the program — meant to erase the student debts of borrowers with significant, permanent disabilities — wasn’t helping the vast majority of those who are eligible.
According to data provided to NPR by a U.S. Education Department official, only 28% of eligible borrowers identified by the department between March 2016 and September 2019 have either had their loans erased, as federal law provides, or are on track for that to happen.
“We are alarmed by the findings in this NPR investigation,” a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), say in a letter to be sent Thursday to Education Department Acting Inspector General Sandra D. Bruce.
“We write with serious concern about the Department of Education’s (ED) process to discharge federal student loans for totally and permanently disabled Americans, including veterans.”