Kokua Line: Relief from student loans available with persistence

Question: How can my grandson find out about forgiveness for $40,000 of federal student loans? He trained to be an MRI tech, but he can’t afford to live here and there’s no way he can pay the $2,500 a month or whatever they’re charging.

Answer: Assuming this money came through the Federal Student Aid Office of the U.S. Department of Education, as your question indicates, your grandson should review the rules for loan forgiveness, cancellation or discharge on the FSA website, at bit.ly/2ROOudZ, and contact his loan servicer if he thinks he qualifies.

There are nine qualifying categories; in some cases partial payment is required. For example, relief of a Direct Loan based on a career in public service, which a medical technician such as your grandson could pursue, requires 120 monthly payments (10 years) before the balance is forgiven. Sometimes loans are forgiven due to disability, bankruptcy (this is rare), teaching in certain schools or because the college closed while or soon after the loan-bearing student was enrolled. None of these options is automatic; your grandson must apply and meet the specific requirements.

As FSA explains on the website, “You must repay your loans even if you don’t complete your education, can’t find a job related to your program of study, or are unhappy with the education you paid for with your loan. You also can’t claim that you have no responsibility for repaying your loan because you were a minor (under the age of 18) when you signed your promissory note or received the loan. However, certain circumstances might lead to your loans being forgiven, canceled or discharged.”

Q: I called the main line of the White House trying to get a plea to the president to reopen the government, but I couldn’t get through. Some message came on that cut me off; I couldn’t quite catch what it said. Can you print the correct number to call?

A: The White House comment line is 202-456-1111, but it isn’t taking calls during the partial federal shutdown, a surprise to you and others who wanted to register their concern. On Sunday the recorded message said, “We look forward to taking your call as soon as the government reopens.”

Likewise, the White House switchboard (202-456-1414) isn’t being answered.

You may send an electronic message, via the contact form atwhitehouse.gov/contact, which would be read when usual operations resume.

Regular mail is being delivered, although security screening delays delivery. The address:

President Donald Trump

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20500

Social media is another way to reach out, such as via Twitter to @realDon aldTrump or @POTUS.

You said in a follow-up phone call that your family relies on a landline phone and you don’t use social media.

You had called Hawaii’s congressional delegation — giving your opinion about the shutdown to staff at the Washington, D.C., offices of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz — and were dismayed that President Trump had not maintained public access by telephone to the White House.

The partial government shutdown that began Dec. 22 is the longest in U.S. history and is having a cascading effect, beyond the 800,000 federal workers directly affected.

None of those workers are being paid, but only about half are actually off the job — the rest are forced to report to work without pay because their jobs are considered essential. The entire workforce will be paid after the shutdown ends, under a bill passed by Congress and which Trump has signed.

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.