OUR WORK ON DISABLED VETERANS’ RIGHTS TO LOAN FORGIVENESS
We had a significant victory for disabled veterans in August 2019! We had mobilized veterans groups to sign letters, filed FOIA and legal requests, engaged Congressional leaders and state Attorneys General in adding their pressure, and garnered media attention – all to expose the US Education Department’s violation of 100% disabled veterans’ statutory (legal) right to student loan forgiveness. After more than a year of our leadership mobilizing pressure, we succeeded! The Trump Administration backed down and agreed to follow the law!
Press Release: Statement by Veterans Education Success on the Presidential Memorandum on Discharging the Federal Student Loan Debt of Totally and Permanently Disabled Veterans
August 21, 2019 For Immediate Release Contact: Barrett Y. Bogue | Senior Communication Advisor (202) 670-5587 Statement by Veterans Education Success on the Presidential Memorandum on Discharging the Federal Student Loan Debt of Totally and [...]
Education Dept’s Response to our FOIA re Disabled Veterans
The Education Department responded to our FOIA request regarding totally disabled veterans' legal right to loan forgiveness. The FOIA response shows that more than half of the 42,000 totally and permanently disabled veterans who are [...]
Letter to the Education Department Regarding Disabled Veterans Right to Loan Forgiveness
Letter from Veterans Education Success and other veterans and military organizations to the US Education Department requesting automatic loan forgiveness for disabled veterans.
FOIA Response from the Education Department Regarding Disabled Veterans
We sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the US Education Department. This is the Department’s answer. It shows that half of disabled veterans who are eligible for loan forgiveness are already in default. [...]
Veterans Organizations Call for Automatic Loan Forgiveness for Disabled Veterans
A letter to the Department of Education requesting automatic loan forgiveness for disabled veterans.
#Veterans groups are demanding that @BetsyDeVosED stop putting #disabled veterans in default on student loans and automatically give disabled veterans their lawful right to loan forgiveness.https://t.co/s1wgoyMlxT https://t.co/gltJzQZDhs
— Veterans Education Success (@GIBillRights) November 9, 2018
2021 Education Department Hearings
We mobilized individual veterans and veterans leaders to testify at the Education Department’s public hearings in 2021 on many topics, including student loan relief for disabled veterans.
- Testimony of William Hubbard, Veterans Education Success (written testimony here; photo here)
- Formal Written Submission by Veterans Education Success
- Testimony of William Buchanan, Veterans Education Success (written testimony here)
MORE NEWS & INFO ABOUT DISABLED VETERANS’ RIGHTS TO LOAN RELIEF
ABC 13 News Now: Disabled Vets to Receive Student Loan Relief Requested by Attorney General Herring
The automatic forgiveness supported by the attorneys general also has the support of veterans groups including Vietnam Veterans for America, Veterans Education Success, The Retired Enlisted Association, High Ground Advocacy, and Ivy League Veterans Council. [...]
UPI: Trump Signs Order to Eliminate Student Loan Debt for Disabled Veterans
A Freedom of Information Act request filed by the non-profit Veterans Education Success showed that more than 25,000 of the 42,000 disabled veterans eligible for student loan forgiveness were in default of $168 million in outstanding [...]
NPR: Trump Signs Executive Order Forgiving All Federal Student Loan Debt For Disabled Vets
An activist I spoke with at Veterans Education Success said she wants to know if they're going to do anything to repair the people who were - had their credit ratings damaged or wages garnished [...]
Diverse Issues In Higher Education: Some Disabled Vets to Get Automatic Student Loan Debt Forgiveness
Carrie Wofford, president of Veterans Education Success, issued a brief statement calling the administration’s action “a welcome development on an issue we have been leading since November 2018.” She said what began as a Freedom [...]
The Washington Post: Trump Administration to Automatically Forgive the Student Debt of Permanently Disabled Veterans
A Freedom of Information Act request made by the advocacy group Veterans Education Success found that the Education Department contacted more than 42,000 disabled veterans, 25,000 of whom were in default on their student loans. [...]
CNBC: Trump to Grant Student Loan Forgiveness for Disabled Veterans
However, recent records revealed the government continues to seek repayment on $1 billion in student loans from more than 40,000 severely disabled veterans who have been deemed unable to work. More than 25,000 of them are in [...]