The Data Liberation Project — Student Loan Cancer Treatment Deferments

Department of Education’s Cancer Treatment Deferment Request form (OMB No. 1845-0154) allows student loan borrowers to request “deferment on [their] eligible loans and forbearance on [their] ineligible loans during cancer treatment and for 6 months after.”

Spreadsheets published by the Department of Education suggest that its Direct Loan and Federal Family Education Loan portfolios each have loans under cancer treatment deferment for fewer than 5,000 borrowers. The precise numbers are not possible to discern, however, due to the spreadsheets appearing to round to the nearest 10,000; the true values could be anywhere between 0 and 4,999.

Even if those spreadsheets did contain precise numbers, they would lack many details of public interest, such as the number of borrowers/loans denied the deferrals, the amounts and types of loans for denied and approved deferrals, and the geographic distribution of deferral requestors.

Our FOIA request 📄 to the Department of Education seeks database records referring to submissions of the deferment request form, excluding personally-identifiable information but including the Department’s actions in response to the requests.

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Updates

“No Records” Response • On October 11, 2023, the Department of Education emailed its initial response 📄. “After a thorough search, no responsive records were located,” according to the letter. “Cancer treatment deferment applications are not received by FSA systems. While FSA typically receives data from the servicers about those borrowers who are in an approved cancer related deferment, no borrowers have been in a cancer related deferment since March 2020, because all borrowers are placed into the COVID forbearance.”
Fee Waiver Appeal Successful, Waiver Granted • On May 15, 2023, the Department of Education emailed a letter 📄 granting the Data Liberation Project a fee waiver for this request, agreeing with the DLP’s May 11 appeal and overturning the agency’s initial fee waiver denial.
Fee Waiver Denial Appealed, Appeal Acknowledged • On May 11, 2023, the Data Liberation Project wrote an email appealing the April 28 fee waiver denial. On the same day, the Department of Education emailed a letter 📄 acknowledging the appeal.
Request Acknowledged, Fee Waiver Denied • On April 28, 2023, the Department of Education acknowledged this request and emailed a letter 📄 denying the Data Liberation Project’s request for a fee waiver, on the grounds that “you have failed to provide sufficient information to demonstrate your entitlement to a waiver of processing fees. More specifically, justification has not been provided to explain how the requested records would contribute significant information to the public’s understanding of the Department’s operations. You have also not provided any evidence demonstrating public interest in the documents.”