United States President Donald Trump cancels the student loan debt of veterans who are totally or permanently disabled as an honor for their service.
During the American Veterans National Convention held in Louisville, Kentucky on August 21, 2019, the US President finally signed a memorandum on the cancellation of the student loan debt for disabled veterans. This has been the desire of attorneys general in all the other fifty-one (51) states to make the memorandum under the Federal law.
Veterans who are yet to benefit from student loan will be required to fulfill some documents to qualify for the loan cancellation. Upon receipt of the letters from Attorneys General, Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, it a top priority for the Trump administration to pass into law the cancellation of the Federal student loan.
According to Trump, disabled veterans shouldn’t be made to go through the stress of paying student debt. The law would alleviate them from the debt. In the words of the US president:
Altogether, this action will wipe out an average of thirty thousand US dollars ($30,000) in debt owed by more than twenty-five thousand (25,000) eligible veterans who have made immense sacrifices for our nation.
Simplified student loan condonation application process
In the letter to the education secretary, the Attorneys Generals explicitly explain how they have been of service to the state putting their lives in line, the least the state can do is to call off their student loans as an appreciation of their service. They also made a plea that the rigorous application process of canceling the loan be removed as some disabled veterans will not be able to follow through with the whole process.
As Attorneys General, they felt that they understand the difficulties faced by residents who struggle to manage their student loan debt. Those difficulties are only compounded for veterans and others who are suffering from a total and permanent disability. The cost of education for our disabled veterans today is soaring, and it would be of great benefit to those who are burdened by these crushing debts to obtain relief without arduous compliance requirements.
Over fifty-one (51) Attorneys General signed the letter addressed to the Education secretary on the 24th of May, 2019 believing that the United State will recognize their effort in protecting the country and approve their request likewise.
More than twenty-five thousand (25,000) disabled veterans will have their student debt forgiven, the president said. The average balance that will be erased is around thirty thousand US dollars ($30,000). Furthermore, the wounded veterans will not be required to pay federal taxes on their forgiven debt.
However, recent records revealed the government continues to seek repayment on one billion US dollars ($1b) in student loans from more than forty thousand (40,000) severely disabled veterans who have been deemed unable to work. More than two hundred fifty-thousand (25,000) of them are in default and just eight thousand five hundred (8,500) of them have applied for forgiveness.
As a result, some students have been victimized by unscrupulous private agencies for student loan debt payment. Various other ways have been proposed before for debt cancellation for students.
There were also those who were hoping that Trump will allow them to declare bankruptcy so they do not have the cost of the loan.
