Provide Debt Relief to Students of 25 Closed Colleges in Missouri, McCaskill Urges Department of Education

Press Release

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill is calling on the Department of Education to implement a policy to proactively provide debt relief to student loan borrowers at 25 schools across Missouri and more than 400 schools nationwide, who were unable to finish their program due to their college or university closing.

"Former students at up to 25 former campuses in Missouri and 406 campuses across the United States are awaiting discharge of their loan debt that can and should be provided to them today," wrote McCaskill to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. "Students who are unable to complete their program because their institution closed cannot be led into default, which would have a devastating financial impact on the student's life at no fault of [their] own."

Currently, borrowers who were unable to finish their program due to the institution closing are able to apply for debt relief, although many do not know they are eligible or do not fill out the required paperwork. Last October, the Department of Education announced it is legally allowed to provide proactive, automatic relief to these student borrowers after three years, known as "automatic closed school discharge," which would save students unnecessary paperwork and delay. McCaskill is calling on the Department to quickly implement this policy.

McCaskill has worked hard in her time in the Senate to tackle issues of college affordability and accessibility, particularly student loan debt and ensuring students who attended schools that have closed are provided necessary relief. Following the closure of for-profit institution ITT Tech, McCaskill pushed a measure that would ensure that veteran students would not be charged towards their educational assistance for money spent at closed institutions.

Last month, following an announcement by the Department of Education that student loan borrowers in public service jobs can't rely on previous guidance about their eligibility for debt relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, McCaskill called on the Department to provide transparency and give student loan borrowers answers.

Source