Student Loan Borrowers With Disabilities Aren't Getting Help They Were Promised
12/4/19. For over half a century, student loan borrowers with a significant, permanent disability have been protected by federal law. If they can no longer work enough to support themselves, they can ask the U.S. Department of Education to erase their debts. But an NPR investigation has found that hundreds of thousands of potentially eligible borrowers — more than enough to fill a city the size of Pittsburgh — have yet to receive the relief they're entitled to.
Not only that, the Education Department told Congress earlier this year it had discharged the loans of 40% of eligible borrowers with significant, permanent disabilities. But new data obtained by NPR from a department official show a much lower number: Only 28% of eligible borrowers identified between March 2016 and September 2019 have either had their loans erased or are on track for that to happen.
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Drew Lehman of Lansdale, Pa., became unable to work after a traumatic car accident.
Drew Lehman of Lansdale, Pa., is one of hundreds of thousands of borrowers who qualify to have their student loans erased because of significant, permanent disabilities.
Drew Lehman and his wife, Laura, sit on the family's big leather couch. Lehman says it's the most comfortable place for him.