If you have debilitating mental illness and cannot pay your student loans, you can apply for a total and permanent disability (TPD) discharge of your Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL); Perkins Loans; William D. Ford Federal Direct Loans (Direct Loans); or Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant service obligation. The process is long and requires documentation from your doctor, and you must expect to be disabled permanently, or die from the disability. You will be monitored for three years and then your status will be permanent; veterans have a speedier application process.

Determine Your Status

Determine if you are totally and permanently disabled. This means that you cannot earn money because of your disability, that it will continue indefinitely, or that it will result in death.

Fill in Application

Fill in Section 1 of Discharge Application: Total and Permanent Disability, available at http://ifap.ed.gov/disabilitydischarge/docs/TPDApp.pdf, sign and add the date in Section 3, and have your doctor fill in Section 4, in great detail. You must file the application with your loan company within 30 days of getting your doctor's signature.

Verify Doctor's Status

Make sure that your physician is a doctor of medicine, licensed to practice in one of the 50 states in the United States. If you live in West Virginia or a U.S. territory, you must submit a copy of your doctor's certification.

Check Doctor's Section of Form

Make sure that your doctor knows how to fill in the form. See http://ifap.ed.gov/disabilitydischarge/process/roles.html#pr and supply it to your doctor, and then check for yourself that the doctor has followed the instructions.

Sign and Submit Application

Sign the application, if you can. If you are disabled and cannot sign, your loan company may designate someone to sign for you. In that case, the designated signer must fill in Section 1, with name, date, address and phone and email; and Section 3, with signature and printed name. Submit it to your loan company.

Communicate and Save Documents

Monitor communications with the borrower and the government, reporting additional income information that the loan company might request. Keep all communication in one file for easy reference.

Quick Approval if You are a Veteran

Apply for a speedy discharge if you are a veteran by filling in Sections 1 and 3, providing documents from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on your disability rating, and having the VA confirm your 100 percent service-oriented disability, or that you cannot be employed.

Source:

Department of Education

Federal Student Aid