ptsd Student Loan

[Jerry_O]

My son served 4 years in the USMC and 7 years Army. He is a Gulf War vet. He hurt his back while with the 101st and was medically discharged. He is rated 100% sc. Back (80%) and PTSD (50%).

My wife and I supported him (forever) for the longest time. Unfortunately he developed a drug addiction to pain medication and we lost several thousand dollars because of his addiction - that is another story.

Since he was recently awarded 100% can any or part of the student loans be forgiven?

Any assistance is appreciated.

Jerry

[Berta]

I sure would say YES!

My husband had a small student loan for college-he paid it back by the monthly schedule they set up until he became totally disabled-and he stopped paying them at the same rate and tried to get the payments lowered-

they hounded us to death!It was very little he still owed-maybe 700.

They called here relentlessly trying to pressure him-daily-

one day he finally told them he had PTSD and was bonafide certified crazy and also had significant brain damage from a major stroke but he was still smart enough to know they were illegally hounding him-

then I found a form -=forget where ----from the Student loan people-or someone--- and we went to the VA and got a doctor to sign it- with no problem at all-

the form asked if the student was unable to work and attend school by virtue of total chronic disability.

We brought his SSA award to the VA doc-

VA had not declared him 100% yet-the doc signed it in a heartbeat-

the student loan people got the form and they never ever called us again and sent something to show the loan had been satisfied due to total disability.

I was told that when a person becomes totally disabled- they should not make any more payments at all to the loan people because the loan people will not tell them of their disability rights- as long as they keep getting payments-

Rod however wanted to continue to pay them but by sending them less-

I think we should have acted faster on this when he had the stroke.

[Guest RickB54]

My son served 4 years in the USMC and 7 years Army. He is a Gulf War vet. He hurt his back while with the 101st and was medically discharged. He is rated 100% sc. Back (80%) and PTSD (50%).

My wife and I supported him (forever) for the longest time. Unfortunately he developed a drug addiction to pain medication and we lost several thousand dollars because of his addiction - that is another story.

Since he was recently awarded 100% can any or part of the student loans be forgiven?

Any assistance is appreciated.

Jerry

Jerry,

I hope you son is doing better.

Sorry, I can't answer your question concerning debt relief.

I am wondering.......

I have had a back injury for years and never heard of a 80% rating. What code is your son rated under? I can not find any code that would rate the back at 80%.

The Spine

Rating

General Rating Formula for Diseases and Injuries of the Spine

(For diagnostic codes 5235 to 5243 unless 5243 is evaluated under the Formula for Rating

Intervertebral Disc Syndrome Based on Incapacitating Episodes):

With or without symptoms such as pain (whether or not it radiates), stiffness, or aching in the area of the spine affected by residuals of injury or disease

Unfavorable ankylosis of the entire spine................................................................... 100

Unfavorable ankylosis of the entire thoracolumbar spine............................................... 50

Unfavorable ankylosis of the entire cervical spine; or, forward flexion

of the thoracolumbar spine 30 degrees or less; or, favorable ankylosis of

the entire thoracolumbar spine...........................................................................

..... 40

Forward flexion of the cervical spine 15 degrees or less; or, favorable

ankylosis of the entire cervical spine........................................................................ 30

Forward flexion of the thoracolumbar spine greater than 30 degrees but not

greater than 60 degrees; or, forward flexion of the cervical spine greater

than 15 degrees but not greater than 30 degrees; or, the combined range of

motion of the thoracolumbar spine not greater than 120 degrees; or, the

combined range of motion of the cervical spine not greater than 170 degrees;

or, muscle spasm or guarding severe enough to result in an abnormal gait

or abnormal spinal contour such as scoliosis, reversed lordosis, or

abnormal kyphosis........................................................................

......................... 20

Forward flexion of the thoracolumbar spine greater than 60 degrees but not

greater than 85 degrees; or, forward flexion of the cervical spine greater than

30 degrees but not greater than 40 degrees; or, combined range of motion of

the thoracolumbar spine greater than 120 degrees but not greater than 235

degrees; or, combined range of motion of the cervical spine greater than

170 degrees but not greater than 335 degrees; or, muscle spasm, guarding,

or localized tenderness not resulting in abnormal gait or abnormal spinal

contour; or, vertebral body fracture with loss of 50 percent or more of the

height..........................................................................

........................................... 10

Note (1): Evaluate any associated objective neurologic abnormalities, including, but not limited to, bowel or bladder impairment, separately, under an appropriate diagnostic code.

Note (2): (See also Plate V.) For VA compensation purposes, normal forward flexion of the cervical spine is zero to 45 degrees, extension is zero to 45 degrees, left and right lateral flexion are zero to 45 degrees, and left and right lateral rotation are zero to 80 degrees. Normal forward flexion of the thoracolumbar spine is zero to 90 degrees, extension is zero to 30 degrees, left and right lateral flexion are zero to 30 degrees, and left and right lateral rotation are zero to 30 degrees. The combined range of motion refers to the sum of the range of forward flexion, extension, left and right lateral flexion, and left and right rotation. The normal combined range of motion of the cervical spine is 340 degrees and of the thoracolumbar spine is 240 degrees. The normal ranges of motion for each component of spinal motion provided in this note are the maximum that can be used for calculation of the combined range of motion.

Note (3): In exceptional cases, an examiner may state that because of age, body habitus, neurologic disease, or other factors not the result of disease or injury of the spine, the range of motion of the spine in a particular individual should be considered normal for that individual, even though it does not conform to the normal range of motion stated in Note (2). Provided that the examiner supplies an explanation, the examiner’s assessment that the range of motion is normal for that individual will be accepted.

Note (4): Round each range of motion measurement to the nearest five degrees.

Note (5): For VA compensation purposes, unfavorable ankylosis is a condition in which the entire cervical spine, the entire thoracolumbar spine, or the entire spine is fixed in flexion or extension, and the ankylosis results in one or more of the following: difficulty walking because of a limited line of vision; restricted opening of the mouth and chewing; breathing limited to diaphragmatic respiration; gastrointestinal symptoms due to pressure of the costal margin on the abdomen; dyspnea or dysphagia; atlantoaxial or cervical subluxation or dislocation; or neurologic symptoms due to nerve root stretching. Fixation of a spinal segment in neutral position (zero degrees) always represents favorable ankylosis.

Note (6): Separately evaluate disability of the thoracolumbar and cervical spine segments, except when there is unfavorable ankylosis of both segments, which will be rated as a single disability.

5235 Vertebral fracture or dislocation

5236 Sacroiliac injury and weakness

5237 Lumbosacral or cervical strain

5238 Spinal stenosis

5239 Spondylolisthesis or segmental instability

5240 Ankylosing spondylitis

5241 Spinal fusion

5242 Degenerative arthritis of the spine (see also diagnostic code 5003)

5243 Intervertebral disc syndrome

Evaluate intervertebral disc syndrome (preoperatively or postoperatively) either under the General Rating Formula for Diseases and Injuries of the Spine or under the Formula for Rating Intervertebral Disc Syndrome Based on Incapacitating Episodes, whichever method results in the higher evaluation when all disabilities are combined under §4.25.

Formula for Rating Intervertebral Disc Syndrome Based on Incapacitating Episodes

With incapacitating episodes having a total duration of at least 6 weeks during the

past 12 months..........................................................................

....................................... 60

With incapacitating episodes having a total duration of at least 4 weeks but less than

6 weeks during the past 12 months..........................................................................

.......... 40

With incapacitating episodes having a total duration of at least 2 weeks but less than

4 weeks during the past 12 months..........................................................................

.......... 20

With incapacitating episodes having a total duration of at least one week but less than

2 weeks during the past 12 months..........................................................................

.......... 10

Note (1): For purposes of evaluations under diagnostic code 5243, an incapacitating episode is a period of acute signs and symptoms due to intervertebral disc syndrome that requires bed rest prescribed by a physician and treatment by a physician.

Note (2): If intervertebral disc syndrome is present in more than one spinal segment, provided that the effects in each spinal segment are clearly distinct, evaluate each segment on the basis of incapacitating episodes or under the General Rating Formula for Diseases and Injuries of the Spine, whichever method results in a higher evaluation for that segment.

[Pete53]

If your son is on the hook for student loans and he is disabled the loans can be forgiven. Contact the lender and request the forms to forgive the debt. They will help cause the government will reimburse them

[tdak]

Jerry,

I currently have a school loan I am trying to have removed due to medical issues. The lender told me the name of the site to get the form and have filled out. She emphasized to make sure it is filled out completely and the part that needs to be filled out by a doctor must be filled out complete and correct. She kept telling me this. Each lender is different so you have to contact each lender, no matter how many there is. I have both subsidized and unsubsidized student loans. Here is the FASA website for loan cancellation & discharge and I am attaching the form for you to download.

Good luck.

PS. Don't forget to fill in every little detail completely and read the instructions and the signature must be original and not a copy. I was told many of these applications get denied because they are photocopied signatures and not filled out completely.

Tamara

LoanDischargeApplication.pdf

Edited March 20, 2007 by tdak

[Philip Rogers]

I just called the outfit that was handling the loan and requested the form. They waived $31k in student loans for me. Took about a month to process.

pr

[Rich T]

It may sound cruel, but if he is not responsible with his VA money, the VA can assign a financial trust.