I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2561 

To amend section 484B of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to forgive 

certain loans for servicemembers who withdraw from an institution of 

higher education as a result of service in the uniformed services, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2009 

Mr. KIND (for himself, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. ALTMIRE, and Mr. HUNTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend section 484B of the Higher Education Act of 

1965 to forgive certain loans for servicemembers who 

withdraw from an institution of higher education as a 

result of service in the uniformed services, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Help Student Soldiers 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR SERVICEMEMBERS. 

2 Section 484B(e) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

3 (20 U.S.C. 1091b(e)) is amended to read as follows— 

4 ‘‘(e) LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR SERVICEMEMBERS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) LOAN FORGIVENESS AUTHORIZED.— 

6 Whenever a student’s withdrawal from an institution 

7 of higher education is necessitated by reason of serv8 ice in the uniformed services, the Secretary shall, 

9 with respect to the payment period or period of en10 rollment for which such student did not receive aca11 demic credit as a result of such withdrawal— 

12 ‘‘(A) waive the amounts the student is re13 quired to return for such payment period or pe14 riod of enrollment under subsection (b)(2); and 

15 ‘‘(B) carry out a program— 

16 ‘‘(i) through the holder of the loan, to 

17 assume the obligation to repay— 

18 ‘‘(I) the outstanding principal 

19 and accrued interest on any loan as20 sistance awarded to the student under 

21 part B for such payment period or pe22 riod of enrollment; minus 

23 ‘‘(II) any amount of such loan 

24 assistance returned by the institution 

25 in accordance with subsection (b)(1) 


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1 for such payment period or period of 

2 enrollment; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) to cancel— 

4 ‘‘(I) the outstanding principal 

5 and accrued interest on the loan as6 sistance awarded to the student under 

7 part D or E for such payment period 

8 or period of enrollment; minus 

9 ‘‘(II) any amount of such loan 

10 assistance returned by the institution 

11 in accordance with subsection (b)(1) 

12 for such payment period or period of 

13 enrollment. 

14 ‘‘(2) PLUS LOANS.—Notwithstanding para15 graph (1), the Secretary may not provide loan for16 giveness under this subsection for any excepted 

17 PLUS loan. 

18 ‘‘(3) REIMBURSEMENT FOR CANCELLATION OF

19 PERKINS LOANS.—The Secretary shall pay to each 

20 institution for each fiscal year an amount equal to 

21 the aggregate of the amounts of Federal Perkins 

22 loans in such institutions’s student loan fund which 

23 are cancelled pursuant to paragraph (1)(B)(ii) for 

24 such fiscal year, minus an amount equal to the ag25 gregate of the amounts of any such loans so canVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:56 May 27, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2561.IH H2561

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1 celed which were made from Federal capital con2 tributions to its student loan fund provided by the 

3 Secretary under section 468. None of the funds ap4 propriated pursuant to section 461(b) shall be avail5 able for payments pursuant to this paragraph. To 

6 the extent feasible, the Secretary shall pay the 

7 amounts for which any institution qualifies under 

8 this paragraph not later than 3 months after the in9 stitution files an institutional application for cam10 pus-based funds. 

11 ‘‘(4) LOAN ELIGIBILITY AND LIMITS FOR STU12 DENTS.—Any amounts that are returned by an in13 stitution in accordance with subsection (b)(1), or 

14 forgiven or waived by the Secretary under this sub15 section, with respect to a payment period or period 

16 of enrollment for which a student did not receive 

17 academic credit as a result of withdrawal neces18 sitated by reason of service in the uniformed serv19 ices, shall not be included in the calculation of a stu20 dent’s annual or aggregate loan limits for assistance 

21 under this title, or otherwise affect the student’s eli22 gibility for grants or loans under this title. 

23 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(A) EXCEPTED PLUS LOAN.—The term 

2 ‘excepted PLUS loan’ has the meaning given 

3 such term in section 493C. 

4 ‘‘(B) SERVICE IN THE UNIFORMED SERV5 ICES.—The term ‘service in the uniformed serv6 ices’ has the meaning given such term in sec7 tion 484C(a). 

8 ‘‘(6) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 

9 take effect on July 1, 2010.’’. 

Æ 


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