Trump Cancels Student Debt For Vets, Earns Praise In Essex County

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — President Donald Trump’s executive order forgiving student loan debt for thousands of disabled military veterans has gained a thumbs-up from two prominent officials with roots in Essex County.

On Wednesday, Trump signed a measure that seeks to remove the bureaucratic barriers for permanently disabled veterans to qualify for student loan forgiveness, The New York Times reported.

While 50,000 permanently disabled veterans in the country are eligible for relief under a decades-old debt forgiveness program, only half of them have qualified because of cumbersome requirements, according to the White House. Trump said the move could save 25,000 wounded warriors an average of $30,000, the Times reported. (Read the full article here)

According to Fox News:

“Under the current process, disabled veterans can have their debt forgiven under a loan forgiveness program, called Total and Permanent Disability Discharge, or TPD, as long as they have a VA service-connected disability rating of 100 percent. As of July, however, only about 20 percent of the eligible pool of veterans had taken advantage of the program due to the complicated nature of the application and other factors.”

The president’s move earned immediate praise from Steven Rogers, Nutley town commissioner and head of the Trump-boosting America Winning Coalition.

But Trump’s executive action also got some kudos from New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, an Essex County native and appointee of Gov. Phil Murphy.

In the past, Grewal has opposed several of Trump’s proposals, including his campaign promise to build a wall along the southern U.S. border and his stance on “Dreamers” seeking refuge under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

“The president and I don’t agree very often, but I’m glad to see that he's ordering [the U.S. Department of Education] to do the right thing for our totally and permanently disabled veterans by forgiving their student loans,” Grewal tweeted.

The attorney general pointed out that his department urged U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to take this step “months ago.”

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While Trump’s order may eventually help thousands of deserving veterans cope with crushing student loan debts, other graduates across the nation are still left holding the bag.

Currently, there is about $1.6 trillion in student loan debt across the U.S. It's a problem that's reached crisis proportions, according to the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJCPA) in Roseland, which has more than 14,500 members.

Earlier this summer, the NJCPA held a poll among its members, who said many of their clients are putting off major life decisions and purchases due to their high student loan debt, including buying homes, getting married or having kids.

• See related article: Essex County Accountants Say Student Debt Is 'Financial Crisis'

In New Jersey, the average college graduate in New Jersey had a debt of $33,593 last year, a 9.09 percent increase from 2017, according to a recent study from Hoboken-based LendEDU.

It was one of the highest rates in the nation; only Washington D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut students graduated with more debt, LendEDU stated.

"While the figures change each year, the narrative certainly does not," LendEDU researchers stated. "Student loan debt continues to be a growing issue in the U.S. and at nearly all schools in the country as the cost of college continues to rise."

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