New steps to help people with disabilities and student loans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is taking steps to help people with disabilities get their student loan debt forgiven, safeguarding their Social Security payments.

The Education Department today announced a new process to better identify hundreds of thousands borrowers who are eligible to apply for a federal loan-forgiveness program. The program is for people who are permanently disabled and cannot work.

Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell says too few borrowers have been taking advantage of the program because they may not know about it or the process of applying was too complicated.

Mitchell said one woman who had been struggling with side effects from breast cancer that left her permanently disabled tried repeatedly to get her debt discharged – a process that took seven years.

"That's not how government should work," Mitchell said in an interview. "These are people who are struggling with health issues. We want to take one worry off their plate."