A coalition of 27 attorneys general, including Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, recently sent a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos asking the U.S. Department of Education to use emergency powers to help federal student-loan borrowers.
The letter said that while the department has taken some steps to help student-loan borrowers, it needs to do more. Emergency relief must be extended to all federal student-loan borrowers, including those with Federal Family Education Loans or Federal Perkins loans are not held by the Department of Education, the letter said.
The attorneys general are urging three courses of action:
The department must ensure all new and continuing involuntary collection activities are halted for all federal student-loan borrowers for the duration of the crisis.
The department must extend to all federal-loan borrowers protections used during national emergencies for the duration of the crisis.
The department must automatically enroll all federal student-loan borrowers who are in or enter into forbearance, or who are or become delinquent on their loans into an Income Driven Repayment Plan with a $0-per-month payment, without requiring submission of an application, verification of income, or recertification for the duration of the crisis. This also applies to those who request enrollment.