By Leo Shane III
Nearly 34,000 disabled veterans who haven’t paid back their federal student loans could see that debt automatically erased under bipartisan legislation proposed this week.
The proposal follows moves by the Departments of Education and Veterans Affairs last year to alert more veterans about debt forgiveness programs for 100-percent disabled veterans. More than 42,000 individuals nationwide are eligible for the aid, potentially dropping tens of thousands of owed dollars from their financial records.
But despite a push from the agencies, only about 20 percent of the eligible pool of veterans has taken advantage of the program. And more than half of those veterans have already defaulted on their federal loans, creating additional financial problems.