Student Loan Forgiveness & Discharge

Reading the Administrative Menu in the Right Order

A careful screening generally moves from the cleanest cancellation to the hardest. TPD discharge and closed-school discharge are event-based: a VA or SSA determination, or a documented school closure, can resolve the file without years of payments. Borrower Defense turns on whether the school's conduct meets the standard. PSLF and IDR forgiveness are time-based — they reward years of qualifying payments — so they matter most for borrowers who are already deep into a public-service career or an income-driven plan. Only when none of these federal routes applies does the conversation move to bankruptcy, where federal loans face the §523(a)(8) undue-hardship standard and private loans do not.

Federal vs. Private Loans Changes Everything

The federal administrative routes — PSLF, TPD, IDR forgiveness, Borrower Defense, closed-school discharge — apply only to federal loans held under Department of Education programs (studentaid.gov). Private student loans have none of these. For private loans, the realistic options are negotiating with the lender, default and the lender's collection process, or bankruptcy — where, unlike federal loans, private loans are treated as ordinary unsecured debt and can be discharged without proving undue hardship (studentaid.gov; CFPB). This single distinction reshapes the strategy, so the first question in any screening is always: are your loans federal, private, or a mix?

The In-Flux Calendar (as of June 2026)

Key dates that are settled: interest resumed September 1, 2023; collections resumed May 5, 2025; the SAVE plan ended by court order March 10, 2026; the Sweet v. Cardona post-class adjudication deadline was extended to April 15, 2026 (ed.gov; studentaid.gov; cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov). Key dates that are scheduled but in flux: the revised PSLF rule and the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) and Tiered Standard plan are slated to take effect July 1, 2026 (ed.gov). Because the July 2026 items are not yet operating as of this writing, treat any RAP or revised-PSLF timeline as provisional and confirm it with your servicer and with counsel before acting on it.

Avoiding Scams While You Screen

The student-loan space is a magnet for fraud. The Federal Trade Commission has permanently banned multiple student-loan debt-relief operators, obtained $743,230 in restitution in August 2025, and secured a temporary restraining order against an operation in April 2026 (ftc.gov). The FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule prohibits charging an advance fee for cancellation services. The warning signs are consistent: a promise that your loans are “guaranteed” forgiven, a demand for payment up front, or a claim of special access to a government program. No legitimate party charges you to apply for a free federal program on studentaid.gov.