Closed School Discharge

Borrowers who were enrolled at a school within 180 days of the schools complete closure may be eligible for discharge of the loans they borrowed at that school.  Effective July 1, 2023 a closed school discharge may also be obtained if the school ceased to offer most of it’s programs.

You must have not completed your program or teach out and been unable to transfer the majority of your credits to a new school in a similar program to qualify. You can apply for this discharge directly through your loan holder with this form. Note you may use this form even if it’s past the end date listed in the top right hand corner. We will post the new form once it is published.

If you fail to enroll in a new institution or apply for a closed school discharge within one year after your school closed, and you meet the above criteria, your servicer may initiate a closed school discharge with no action needed from you.

On or after July 1, 2023, in addition to the other criteria, the borrower must state they did not complete a teach out and as applicable agree to provide the ED with documentation proving their eligibility and for the discharge and agree to cooperate with enforcement actions as and if needed.

If the borrower does not complete the teach out within one year the loan can be discharged without an application by the borrower

For certain schools that have closed, the Department of Education has published links to credit transfer options and other remedies.  You can find this list here.