How Can My Son Pay His Student Loans When He is in Jail for 20 Years?

Question:

Dear Steve,

My son was imprisoned for 15-20 years and owes approximately 24,000 dollars in student loans. He was incarcerated in 2014

Can My son be forgiven of his student loan of approximately 24,000 dollars? He is in a federal prison working and making about 150 dollars per month.

Louis

Answer:

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Dear Louis,

If these are federal student loans your son should look into consolidating his federal student loans into a new Direct Loan and then opting for an income-driven repayment plan that will qualify for a $0 per month payment.

The balance could be forgiven in 20 years if he goes this route.

Your son will need your assistance to take care of the paperwork and annually recertify the payment plan.

If he has private student loans, there really isn’t much you can do. Let them default and deal with them when he gets out. I would not be surprised if they didn’t just write them off after a while given the situation.

There is actually an interesting situation if your son is working for a government agency in prison. See Go to Prison and Get Your Federal Student Loans Forgiven.