Stack of Dollars



How to Qualify for a New Rochelle Student Debt Discharge

NEWS ALERT: On September 20th, 2019, the College of New Rochelle declared bankruptcy and announced that it would be closing it’s doors.

Because the college closed down, anyone who was still attending and hadn’t yet graduated has access to a Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Program called the Closed School Discharge Program, which allows you to apply for COMPLETE Federal student loan forgiveness.

The Closed School Discharge lets you eliminate all your federal debt, and is incredibly useful as long as you don’t care about keeping the credits you earned from New Rochelle.

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



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

Let me give you a quick bit of advice – if you’re having trouble how to deal with your student debt, or you want to keep the credits you earned from New Rochelle, then you may need to consider other options, like hiring an expert.

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 New Rochelle Closed School Discharge?

The Closed School Loan Discharge Program rules state that you can’t have completed all your courses required for graduation at the time the school shut down, and that you had to be actively enrolled (or on a leave of absence) within 120 days of the official closure.

New Rochelle shut down on August 9th, 2019, which means that you would have had to still be enrolled in the school on April 11th, 2019, in order to qualify for a Closed School Loan Discharge.

Closed School Discharges are also only available for Federal Student Loans (NOT Private Student Loans), but the great thing about this program is that it’s cut and dry: as long as you were enrolled within 120 days of the closure, you’re eligible for the discharge.

That’s very different from the other Federal Student Loan Relief Programs on offer, like the Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Program, which requires convincing someone at the Department of Education that the school committed fraud against you in order to receive forgiveness.


Conditions That Prevent a Closed School Discharge

Before we talk about how to actually apply for the discharge, let’s cover things that can prevent you from being eligible for the benefit.

Under the rules of the program, you won’t get a Closed School Loan Discharge if any of these apply to you:

  • If you withdrew from courses more than 120 days before New Rochelle Closed
  • If you’re now attending a similar program at another school, after having transferred your New Rochelle credits there
  • If you completed all the coursework required to graduate from your program before the school shut down (even if you didn’t get your actual diploma or certificate of completion)

The condition that typically trips people up is the one about transferring credits; the Closed School Discharge Program won’t apply to you if you chose to continue your education elsewhere and still want to utilize your credits from New Rochelle.


How to Apply for the Closed School Discharge

This part is super easy! Here’s how to apply for the discharge:

  • Contact your Federal Student Loan Servicing Company and tell them that you want to apply for the Closed School Loan Discharge
  • Complete whatever paperwork the Servicer tells you has to be completed (some can take information over the phone, others have internet/email forms, and some will require that you mail them physical paperwork)

If your’e not sure who is servicing your loans, visit my Guide on Federal Student Loan Servicers here.

One thing to make sure of is that you continue sending your monthly student loan payments until you’ve received official notice from your servicing company that your loan discharge has been approved.


State Tuition Recovery Fund Refunds

In addition to the Closed School Discharge, which comes from the Federal Government, some States offer their own tuition recovery programs, so you’ll want to see if you’re eligible for that benefit as well!

To find out if you’re eligible, contact your state’s Postsecondary Education Agency.

This is the group who determines all the higher education laws in your state, and who monitors compliance of schools, enforces regulations, etc.

To figure out who to contact, simply Google “YOURSTATE Postsecondary Education Agency”, then call or email them to see if you’re eligible for State Tuition Recovery Refunds.



Other Federal Student Loan Assistance Programs

Even if you don’t qualify for a Closed School Discharge, that doesn’t mean you’re out of options!

There are tons of benefits programs available to people with Federal student debt, and over the past 10 years, I’ve written more than 100 Guides on each of these programs.

To get Help with your Federal Student Loans, check out my Guides on:



Getting Help With Private Student Loans

And if you have private student loans, then the bad news is that there aren’t as many available assistance programs, but you still might be able to qualify for some kind of relief.

If you need Help with your Private Student Loans, take a look at my Guides on:

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!

I’m not exaggerating when I say that running this site is like working a second full-time job, and I can only continue to do that with the support of my readers!

If you found this article useful, then PLEASE help me out by sharing it on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter or wherever you communicate online.

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 so much 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.

 

 

 

 

By: 

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.