getting student loans forgiven because of disabilities
I'm 38 years old and have
mental and physical disabilites. I got approved for SSI in 2001(based
solely on a mental disability I believe) , but while I was waiting, I
had to work, so I didn't start collecting until 2 years ago when a
doctor took me out of work. It switched over to SSDI a short time
after that. I have had several different psychiatric diagnoses, only
recently was correctly diagnosed with the correct disorders, and have,
after years of suffering with chronic pain, found out that I have many
physical issues that are disabling. I have a $31,000 student loan
debt that I'm trying to get discharged because of the disabilities,
but evidently they don't work with Social Security to get these
forgiven. They make people prove them on their own, and the criteria
is much more in depth than SSI's criteria.
The agency that I've been working with for several years is a crisis
agency and I've seen several different psychiatrists over the years,
so I haven't been working with one consistently. The paperwork that
the Dept. of Education has asked me to send to them has to be filled
out by an M.D. and since the disability was initially because of a
mental issue, I chose to have the psychiatrist I'm working with now
fill it out and send it in. I've been emailing back and forth with a
man from the DOE about this issue, and evidently what they have now
isn't good enough to get these loans forgiven. I knew that it wouldn't
be, since all they did was submit the doctor's office notes from a few
visits and what they needed was specific reasons why my illnesses are
disabling and why I can't work ever again. I can resubmit again for
reconsideration, but what I want to do is include the physical stuff
that's going on because I think it will help my case. The problem is
that the physiatrist that I'm working with won't help me (he wants to
help me get better, not stay disabled is his reasoning- even though
carpal tunnel, bulging discs, bone spurs and degenerative disc disease/
arthritis and fibromyalgia never heals or gets better, okay then), and
I have only seen him twice. I've only seen my current PCP twice, and
she's a PAC, not an M.D., my mental health counselor is a PhD, and the
student loan people will only accept submissions from an M.D.
I believe that Bush passed something where they can garnish up to 15%
of your SSI or SSDI checks every month.. I get $733 a month, and it
would greatly affect my ability to live if this happens. I'm trying to
figure out how to do all of this and if anyone has any advice I would
greatly appreciate it. I have sent an email to them asking if it's
okay to have my PhD counselor help me fill the paperwork out and have
the psychiatrist sign the paperwork, but I'm not sure how that'll fly.
It's complicated because there are not just mental, but physical
issues, and it's going to be impossible to get an M.D. to work with me
on BOTH mental and physical issues to prove the disability. The other
thing I thought of doing was calling the lawyer who worked with me to
get me approved for SSI in the first place, but that was so long ago,
I'm not sure he'd even remember me, and I don't know what he'd even be
able to do for me, not to mention I have no money. Sometimes I think
I would have been better off filling this stuff out myself and just
having the doctor sign the thing.
- Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but the idea of loans being "forgiven"
is a non issue because that isn't done any more. I thought the last
round of changes about this matter meant that, at best, you can get the
loans deferred for x number of