Borrower:
The Individual who signed and agreed to the terms in the promissory note and is responsible for repaying a loan. For PLUS loans, the borrower can be either the parent of the dependent student (Parent PLUS Loans) or a graduate/professional student (Grad PLUS Loans).
Borrower's Representative:
A person designated by a borrower to sign on his or her behalf on the borrower's Discharge Application: Total and Permanent Disability.
Direct Loan:
A loan provided to student and parent borrowers directly from the U.S. Department of Education rather than through a bank or other lender. See William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program.
Disability Discharge Loan Servicing Center:
The organization within the U.S. Department of Education that processes total and permanent disability (TPD) discharge applications, monitors borrowers' employment earnings and Title IV loan activity, provides customer service throughout the discharge process, and makes determinations for conditional and final discharges.
Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program:
Before July 1, 2010, Stafford, PLUS, and Consolidation Loans were made by private lenders under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program. As a result of the SAFRA Act, which was part of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA), no further loans will be made under the FFEL Program beginning July 1, 2010. All new Stafford, PLUS, and Consolidation Loans will come directly from the U.S. Department of Education under the Direct Loan Program. For more information about recent changes to Federal student aid provisions in HCERA, please review the Dear Colleague Letter (GEN-10-05) on this subject.
Federal Perkins Loan:
A low-interest federal loan program administered by the school for undergraduate and graduate programs. This loan program includes Federal Perkins Loans, National Direct Student Loans (NDSL), and National Defense Student Loans (Defense Loans).
Guarantor (guaranty agency):
A state or private nonprofit organization that has an agreement with the Department under which it will administer loans under the FFEL program.
Lender:
The organization from which a student loan is borrowed. The lender of a FFEL Loan may be a bank, a savings and loan association, a credit union, a guaranty agency, or another type of creditor. The lender of a Perkins Loan is a school. The lender of a Direct Loan is the Department.
Loan holder:
The organization that owns the loan and has the right to collect from the borrower. The holder of FFEL program loans may be a lender, a guaranty agency, or the U.S. Department of Education. The holder of Perkins Loan program loans may be a school a borrower attended or the Department. The holder of Direct Loan program loans is the Department.
Medical Review:
The determination of whether or not the discharge application supports the conclusion that the borrower is totally and permanently disabled.
Physician:
Only a doctor of medicine (M.D.) or osteopathy (D.O.) who is licensed to practice in the United States may certify total and permanent disability on the Discharge Application: Total and Permanent Disability. For this purpose, the United States includes the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau.
Physician's Certification:
The physician's formal verification that the borrower is totally and permanently disabled. To provide this certification, the physician must complete the appropriate section on the Discharge Application: Total and Permanent Disability.
Post-discharge monitoring period:
For an individual who has been granted a disability discharge, the post-discharge monitoring period begins on the date that the Department grants the discharge and lasts for up to three years. During this period, the Department monitors the individual's eligibility for maintaining the loan or TEACH Grant service discharge. The individual must meet the following requirements throughout the post-discharge monitoring period: (1) must not receive any new loans through the Direct Loan or Perkins Loan programs, or any new TEACH grants; and (2) must not have annual earnings from employment that exceed the Poverty Guidelines amount for a family of two in the individual's state; and (3) must ensure that the full amount of any disbursement of a Title IV loan or TEACH Grant received prior to the discharge date that is made during the three-year period following the discharge date is returned to the loan holder or to the Department, as applicable, within 120 days of the disbursement date. If these conditions are not met during or at the end of the monitoring period, the borrower’s loan(s) or service obligation will be reinstated.
Poverty Guidelines (or Poverty Line):
A yearly income figure set by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services that defines poverty thresholds based on family size. In addition, there is one set of figures for the 48 contiguous states and D.C.; one set for Alaska; and one set for Hawaii. (The guidelines can be found on this site under Poverty Guidelines or at http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/09Poverty.shtml.) The poverty guideline amounts are adjusted annually.
Servicer:
An organization that monitors and collects loans for the holder.
Substantial Gainful Activity:
A level of work performed for pay for profit that involves doing significant physical or mental activities, or combination of both.
TEACH Grant:
This program provides grants to students who agree to teach full time for at least four years in high-need fields in low-income elementary or secondary schools as a condition for receiving the grant funds. If a TEACH Grant recipient does not complete the required teaching service within eight years after completing the program of study for which the TEACH Grant was received, the TEACH Grant funds are converted to a Direct Unsubsidized Loan that the grant recipient must repay in full, with interest, to the U.S. Department of Education.
Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) / Totally and permanently disabled:
Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) is the condition of an individual who (1) is unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that can be expected to result in death, has lasted for a continuous period of not less than 60 months, or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 60 months; or (2) has been determined by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to be unemployable due to a service-connected disability. An individual who has a condition that meets this definition is considered totally and permanently disabled.
William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program:
This program includes Federal Direct Stafford/Ford Loans (Direct Subsidized Loans), Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford/Ford Loans (Direct Unsubsidized Loans), Federal Direct PLUS Loans (Direct PLUS Loans), and Federal Direct Consolidation Loans (Direct Consolidation Loans).