Applying for discharge (all applicants):

Submission of discharge application. After you submit your completed application and documentation to us, we will send you a notice that will:

• Acknowledge receipt of your application;
• Explain the process for our review of your application; and
• Inform you that you are not required to make any payments on your loans while we review your application for discharge.

Consequences of failure to submit an application. If you do not submit an application to us within 120 days of notifying us that you intend to submit an application, collection activity will resume on your loans, and your loan holder may capitalize any unpaid interest. This means that the unpaid interest will be added to the principal balance of your loans, and interest will then be charged on the increased loan principal amount. However, if you have a FFEL Program loan and the loan holder is a guaranty agency, or if you have a Federal Perkins Loan, unpaid interest will not be capitalized.

Discharge process for all other applicants (continued):

Determination of eligibility or ineligibility for discharge (continued).

If we determine that you are not totally and permanently disabled, you will be notified of that determination. The notification will include:

• The reason or reasons for the denial of your discharge application;
• An explanation that your loans are due and payable to the loan holder under the terms of the promissory note that you signed and that your loans will return to the status that would have existed if your total and permanent disability discharge application had not been received;
• An explanation that your loan holder will notify you of the date you must resume making payments on your loans;
• An explanation that if you applied for a discharge of a TEACH Grant service obligation, you must comply with all terms and conditions of your TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve;
• An explanation that you are not required to submit a new total and permanent disability discharge application if, within 12 months of the date of our notification to you that you are ineligible for discharge, you provide additional information regarding your disabling condition that supports your eligibility for discharge, and you request that we re-evaluate your discharge application; and
• An explanation that if you do not request reevaluation of your prior discharge application within 12 months of the date of our notification of ineligibility for discharge, and you still wish to have us re-evaluate your eligibility for a total and permanent disability discharge, you must submit a new total and permanent disability discharge application to us.
• If you request a re-evaluation of your total and permanent disability discharge application or submit a new total and permanent disability discharge application, as described above, your request must include new information regarding your disabling condition that was not provided to us in connection with your prior application for discharge.

Post-discharge monitoring period. If you are granted a discharge, we will monitor your status during the 3-year post-discharge monitoring period that begins on the date the discharge is granted.

We will reinstate the requirement for you to repay your loans and/or complete your TEACH Grant service if, at any time during or at the end of the post-discharge monitoring period, you:

• Receive annual earnings from employment that exceed the poverty guideline amount (see Note below) for a family of two in your state, regardless of your actual family size;
• Receive a new loan under the Direct Loan Program, or a new TEACH Grant;
• Receive a disbursement of a Direct Loan Program or a TEACH Grant that was initially disbursed prior to your discharge date and you fail to ensure that the disbursement is returned to the loan holder or (for a TEACH Grant) to us within 120 days of the disbursement date; or
• Receive a notice from the SSA indicating that you are no longer disabled or that your continuing disability review will no longer be the 5- to 7-year period indicated in the SSA notice of award or BPQY.

During the 3-year post-discharge monitoring period, you (or your representative) must:

• Promptly notify us of any changes in your address or telephone number;
• Promptly notify us if your annual earnings from employment exceed the poverty guideline amount for a family of two in your state (see Note below), regardless of your actual family size;
• Upon request, provide us with documentation of your annual earnings from employment, on a form that we will provide; and
• Promptly notify us if you receive a notice from the SSA indicating that you are no longer disabled or that your continuing disability review will no longer be the 5- to 7-year period indicated in the SSA notice of award or BPQY (after you had been previously determined to be disabled by the SSA, were receiving SSDI or SSI benefits, and had a continuing disability review period of 5 to 7 years or more from the date of your last SSA disability determination).

Note: The poverty guideline amounts are updated annually and may be obtained at http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty. We will notify you of the current poverty guideline amounts during each year of the post-discharge monitoring period.

Discharge process for all other applicants (continued):

Reinstatement of obligation to repay discharged loans or complete discharged TEACH Grant service obligation. If you do not meet the requirements described above at any time during or at the end of the post-discharge monitoring period, we will reinstate your obligation to repay your loans and/or to complete your TEACH Grant service. If your loans are reinstated, you will be responsible for repaying your loans to us in accordance with the terms of your promissory note(s). Your loans will be returned to the status that would have existed if we had not received your total and permanent disability discharge application. However, you will not be required to pay interest on your loans for the period from the date of the discharge until the date your repayment obligation was reinstated. We will be your loan holder. If your TEACH Grant service obligation is reinstated, you will again be subject to the requirements of your TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve. If you do not meet the terms of that agreement and the TEACH Grant funds you received are converted to a Direct Unsubsidized Loan, you must repay that loan in full, and interest will be charged from the date(s) that the TEACH Grant funds were disbursed.

If your obligation to repay your loans or to complete your TEACH Grant service is reinstated, we will notify you of the reinstatement. This notification will include:

• The reason or reasons for the reinstatement;
• For loans, an explanation that the first payment due date on the loan following the reinstatement will be no earlier than 60 days following the date of the notification of reinstatement; and
• Information on how you may contact us if you have questions about the reinstatement, or if you believe that your obligation to repay a loan or complete TEACH Grant service was reinstated based on incorrect information.

For veterans who receive a total and permanent disability discharge based on a determination by the VA that they are unemployable due to a service-connected disability:

If you are a veteran who is granted a discharge based on a determination that you are totally and permanently disabled as described in item (2) of the definition of "total and permanent disability" in Section 5 of this application, you are not eligible to receive future loans under the Direct Loan Program or the Perkins Loan Program, or future TEACH Grants, unless:

• You obtain a certification from a licensed medical professional that you are able to engage in substantial gainful activity; and
• You sign a statement acknowledging that the new loan or TEACH Grant service obligation cannot be discharged in the future on the basis of any injury or illness present at the time the new loan or TEACH Grant is made, unless your condition substantially deteriorates so that you are again totally and permanently disabled.

For all other individuals who receive a total and permanent disability discharge:

If you are granted a discharge based on a determination that you are totally and permanently disabled in accordance with item (1) of the definition of "total and permanent disability" in Section 5 of this application, you are not eligible to receive future loans under the Direct Loan Program or future TEACH Grants, unless:

• You obtain a certification from a licensed medical professional that you are able to engage in substantial gainful activity;
• You sign a statement acknowledging that the new loan or TEACH Grant service obligation cannot be discharged in the future on the basis of any injury or illness present at the time the new loan or TEACH Grant is made, unless your condition substantially deteriorates so that you are again totally and permanently disabled; and
• If you request a Direct Loan Program or a new TEACH Grant, within three years of the date that a previous loan or TEACH Grant was discharged, you resume payment on the previously discharged loan or acknowledge that you are once again subject to the terms of the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve before receiving the new loan.

Privacy Act Notice. The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires that the following notice be provided to you:

The authorities for collecting the requested information from and about you are §421 et seq., §451 et seq., §461, or §420L of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. 1071 et seq., 20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq., 20 U.S.C. 1087aa et seq., or 20 U.S.C. 1070g et seq.) and the authorities for collecting and using your Social Security Number (SSN) are §§428B(f) and 484(a)(4) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1078-2(f) and 1091(a)(4)) and 31 U.S.C. 7701(b). Participating in the Direct Loan,FFEL, Perkins Loan, or TEACH Grant program and giving us your SSN are voluntary, but you must provide the requested information, including your SSN, to participate.

The principal purposes for collecting the information on this form, including your SSN, are to verify your identity, to determine your eligibility to receive a loan or a benefit on a loan (such as a deferment, forbearance, discharge, or forgiveness) under the Direct Loan, FFEL, Federal Perkins Loan or TEACH Grant Programs, to permit the servicing of your loans, and, if it becomes necessary, to locate you and to collect and report on your loans if your loans become delinquent or default. We also use your SSN as an account identifier and to permit you to access your account information electronically.

The information in your file may be disclosed, on a case-by-case basis or under a computer matching program, to third parties as authorized under routine uses in the appropriate systems of records notices. The routine uses of this information include, but are not limited to, its disclosure to federal, state, or local agencies, to private parties such as relatives, present and former employers, business and personal associates, to consumer reporting agencies, to financial and educational institutions, and to guaranty agencies in order to verify your identity, to determine your eligibility to receive a loan or a benefit on a loan, to permit the servicing or collection of your loans, to enforce the terms of the loans, to investigate possible fraud and to verify compliance with federal student financial aid program regulations, or to locate you if you become delinquent in your loan payments or if you default. To provide default rate calculations, disclosures may be made to guaranty agencies, to financial and educational institutions, or to state agencies. To provide financial aid history information, disclosures may be made to educational institutions.

To assist program administrators with tracking refunds and cancellations, disclosures may be made to guaranty agencies, to financial and educational institutions, or to federal or state agencies. To provide a standardized method for educational institutions to efficiently submit student enrollment statuses, disclosures may be made to guaranty agencies or to financial and educational institutions. To counsel you in repayment efforts, disclosures may be made to guaranty agencies, to financial and educational institutions, or to federal, state, or local agencies.

In the event of litigation, we may send records to the Department of Justice, a court, adjudicative body, counsel, party, or witness if the disclosure is relevant and necessary to the litigation. If this information, either alone or with other information, indicates a potential violation of law, we may send it to the appropriate authority for action. We may send information to members of Congress if you ask them to help you with federal student aid questions. In circumstances involving employment complaints, grievances, or disciplinary actions, we may disclose relevant records to adjudicate or investigate the issues. If provided for by a collective bargaining agreement, we may disclose records to a labor organization recognized under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 71. Disclosures may be made to our contractors for the purpose of performing any programmatic function that requires disclosure of records. Before making any such disclosure, we will require the contractor to maintain Privacy Act safeguards. Disclosures may also be made to qualified researchers under Privacy Act safeguards.

Paperwork Reduction Notice. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1845-0065. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 30 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The obligation to respond to this collection is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with 34 CFR 674.61(b) or (c), 34 CFR 682.402(c)(2) or (c)(9), 34 CFR 685.213(b) or (c), and 34 CFR 686.42(b). If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, please contact the U.S. Department of Education directly (see Section 6).