Stack of Dollars



How to Qualify for a Newbury College Student Debt Discharge

NEWS ALERT: On December 14th, 2019, Newbury College President Dr. Joseph L. Chillo released a statement saying that the school would be closing down following the Spring 2019 Semester.

Now that the school has officially closed, former students who hadn’t yet completed the graduation requirements for their degree programs have access to a Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Program called the Closed School Student Loan Discharge Program.

Anyone eligible for the Closed School Discharge can have all of their Newbury-related federal student loans forgiven, as long as they’re willing to surrender the credits they earned while at Newbury.

This Guide will explain how to apply for a Closed School Discharge from Newbury College.



But Before I Explain How the Closed School Discharge Program Works…

First, let me offer some advice – if you want to keep your Newbury credits, or if you don’t qualify for the Closed School Discharge, then I would suggest hiring an expert to help deal with your loans.

If you're truly struggling with student debt, then you should also consider paying a Student Loan Debt Relief Agency for help. Why? Because the people working at these companies deal with student loans all day, every day, and they're your best chance at figuring out how to get your loans back under control.

I've interviewed all sorts of debt relief agencies over the past 10 years, talking to all sorts of so-called "experts", and I can tell you that in all honesty I've only found two companies I trust to offer actual financial relief to people struggling with student loans.

For help with FEDERAL Student Loans: Call the Student Loan Relief Helpline at 1-888-906-3065. They will review your case, evaluate your options for switching repayment plans, consolidating your loans, or pursuing forgiveness benefits, then set you up to get rid of the debt as quickly as possible.

For help with PRIVATE Student Loans: Call McCarthy Law PLC at 1-877-317-0455. They will negotiate with your lender to settle your private loans for much less than you owe, then get you a new loan for the much lower, settled amount. NOTE: McCarthy Law can ONLY help with Private student loans.

If you do decide to call one of these companies and you have a bad experience with either of them, PLEASE make sure to come back and let me know about it in the Comments!


Who Qualifies for a Newbury College Closed School Discharge?

If you hadn’t completed all the coursework required to graduate from your program at the time that Newbury closed, and you were still actively enrolled in the school or on an approved Leave of Absence within 120 days of the closure date, then you are eligible for a Closed School Discharge.

I can’t seem to find the exact date that the school ceased operations, but we know it was a point following the Spring 2019 semester, and so as long as you were still enrolled within 120 days of that closure point, you can eliminate your Newbury-related Federal student loans.

Perhaps the best thing about this program is that eligibility for the discharge is based on a black and white qualification specification, so as long as you were still enrolled, you’ll get that discharge.

This sits in sharp contrast to a whole host of other Federal Student Loan Relief Programs currently available, like the Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Program, which is completely subjective, as earning the BDAR Discharge requires convincing someone from the Department of Education that your school committed fraud against you!


Conditions That Prevent a Closed School Discharge

Before I go through the process of applying for a Newbury Closed School Discharge, first I’d like to talk about the conditions that will prevent you from having your application approved.

If any of the following factors apply to you, then DON’T waste your time applying for the Closed School Discharge, because your application will just be denied:

  • Don’t apply if you withdrew from courses over 120 days before Newbury closed
  • Don’t apply if you’ve already transferred Newbury credits to a similar program at another school (like Lasell University, who became the Institution of Record for Newbury College as of August 19th, 2019)
  • Don’t apply if you completed all the coursework to graduate before Newbury closed

Odds are, if any of these apply to you, it’s probably the one about already having transferred your credits to another school.

If you’ve transferred credits elsewhere and started a degree completion program with the new school, then you won’t be eligible for the Newbury Discharge.

The reason this happens is that getting the Discharge means you have to sacrifice all the credits you earned at Newbury, and agree to start over on your college education.

So… if you plan to finish college somewhere else, and don’t want to have to start over, DO NOT APPLY for a Newbury Closed School Discharge!


How to Apply for a Closed School Discharge

Fortunately, applying for a Closed School Discharge is really, really simple.

Here’s what you need to do:

  • Find out who your loan servicer is by visiting my Guide to Federal Student Loan Servicing Companies
  • Tell your Servicer that you want to apply for the Closed School Loan Discharge Program
  • Complete whatever instructions the Servicer provides that they say are required to get your discharge

One thing to keep in mind while you wait their response on your application is that you need to keep making your monthly student loan payments, and that you should keep sending those in until the servicer alerts you that your discharge is approved and your loan has been dissolved.


State Tuition Recovery Fund Refunds

Closed School Discharges come from the Federal Government, but there are also REFUNDS available from some State Governments, via a program called the State Tuition Recovery Fund Refund.

To see out if you’re eligible for a State Tuition Recovery Fund Refund, you’ll need to contact the Postsecondary Education Agency that runs things in your state.

To get their contact information, go to Google and search the phrase “YOURSTATE Postsecondary Education Agency”.

Once you’ve got their contact information, get in touch with them and ask if you’re eligible for a disbursement from the State Tuition Recovery Fund Refund.



Other Federal Student Loan Assistance Programs

If you aren’t eligible for the Newbury College Closed School Discharge, or if you simply don’t want to surrender your credits as you want to complete your education, then you’ll want to look into other benefits programs.

Take a look at the Guides I’ve created to help teach people how to pay their loans off as quickly and affordably as possible, which are scattered throughout my site ForgetStudentLoanDebt.com, and which will help you determine what benefits programs you have access to.

For Help with Federal Student Loans, be sure to visit my Guides on:



If You Need Help With Private Student Loans

And if you have both Private student loans, then you’ll need to look elsewhere for assistance, but fortunately, I’ve also created a whole series of Guides on Private Student Loan Relief Programs, which you can find here:

If you have any other questions about student loans, please feel free post them in the Comments section below.

I’ll do my best to get you a response within 24 hours!


Finally, Please Help Me Out!

Running this website is like working a second full-time job, and I can only continue to dedicate the time and effort required to build Guides like this one if people like you help me out in return!

I will never ask for a donation from my readers, but I do want to ask for your help in spreading the word that this site exists by sharing a link to it on Facebook, Reddit or Twitter.

The more people who visit FSLD, the more time I can dedicate to writing up Guides like this one, and helping borrowers like you!

Thank you for visiting, and thank you for your support.


Disclaimer:Information obtained from Forget Student Loan Debt is for educational purposes only. You should consult a licensed financial professional before making any financial decisions. This site receives some compensation through affiliate relationships. This site is not endorsed or affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education.

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Tim's experience struggling with crushing student loan debt led him to create the website Forget Student Loan Debt in 2011, where he offers advice, tips and tricks for paying off student loans as quickly and affordably as possible.