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) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu-
cation 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Help Student Soldiers 
Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR SERVICEMEMBERS. 
Section 484B(e) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1091b(e)) is amended to read as follows— 
‘‘(e) LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR SERVICEMEMBERS.— 
‘‘(1) 
LOAN
FORGIVENESS
AUTHORIZED.— 
Whenever a student’s withdrawal from an institution 
of higher education is necessitated by reason of serv-
ice in the uniformed services, the Secretary shall, 
with respect to the payment period or period of en-
rollment for which such student did not receive aca-
demic credit as a result of such withdrawal— 
‘‘(A) waive the amounts the student is re-
quired to return for such payment period or pe-
riod of enrollment under subsection (b)(2); and 
‘‘(B) carry out a program— 
‘‘(i) through the holder of the loan, to 
assume the obligation to repay— 
‘‘(I) the outstanding principal 
and accrued interest on any loan as-
sistance awarded to the student under 
part B for such payment period or pe-
riod of enrollment; minus 
‘‘(II) any amount of such loan 
assistance returned by the institution 
in accordance with subsection (b)(1) 
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for such payment period or period of 
enrollment; and 
‘‘(ii) to cancel— 
‘‘(I) the outstanding principal 
and accrued interest on the loan as-
sistance awarded to the student under 
part D or E for such payment period 
or period of enrollment; minus 
‘‘(II) any amount of such loan 
assistance returned by the institution 
in accordance with subsection (b)(1) 
for such payment period or period of 
enrollment. 
‘‘(2) PLUS 
LOANS.—Notwithstanding para-
graph (1), the Secretary may not provide loan for-
giveness under this subsection for any excepted 
PLUS loan. 
‘‘(3) REIMBURSEMENT FOR CANCELLATION OF 
PERKINS LOANS.—The Secretary shall pay to each 
institution for each fiscal year an amount equal to 
the aggregate of the amounts of Federal Perkins 
loans in such institutions’s student loan fund which 
are cancelled pursuant to paragraph (1)(B)(ii) for 
such fiscal year, minus an amount equal to the ag-
gregate of the amounts of any such loans so can-
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celed which were made from Federal capital con-
tributions to its student loan fund provided by the 
Secretary under section 468. None of the funds ap-
propriated pursuant to section 461(b) shall be avail-
able for payments pursuant to this paragraph. To 
the extent feasible, the Secretary shall pay the 
amounts for which any institution qualifies under 
this paragraph not later than 3 months after the in-
stitution files an institutional application for cam-
pus-based funds. 
‘‘(4) LOAN ELIGIBILITY AND LIMITS FOR STU-
DENTS.—Any amounts that are returned by an in-
stitution in accordance with subsection (b)(1), or 
forgiven or waived by the Secretary under this sub-
section, with respect to a payment period or period 
of enrollment for which a student did not receive 
academic credit as a result of withdrawal neces-
sitated by reason of service in the uniformed serv-
ices, shall not be included in the calculation of a stu-
dent’s annual or aggregate loan limits for assistance 
under this title, or otherwise affect the student’s eli-
gibility for grants or loans under this title. 
‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
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