Posted Date:January 24, 2014
| Author: | Sue O'Flaherty, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: U.S. Departments of Treasury and Education Collaborate to Raise Awareness About Income-Driven Repayment Options
Earlier today the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), the U.S. Department of Education (Education), and Intuit, Inc. announced an innovative private-public collaboration to raise awareness about income-driven repayment plans and other repayment options for federal student loan borrowers. In August 2013, President Obama called for the two agencies, Treasury and Education, to partner together around increasing consumer awareness of repayment options. The collaboration announced today is a response to the President's call and will assist in reaching millions of borrowers.
The two outreach initiatives that will begin this tax filing season are as follows:
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TurboTax Banner – Intuit, Inc. will feature a banner on the TurboTax Web site that features a message to let users know they have options for repaying federal student loans. The banner will link to the Department of Education's online Repayment Estimator, where users will be able to determine if they could lower their monthly student loan payments through an income-driven repayment plan. From there, users would be able to electronically request an income-driven repayment plan.
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Refund Check Messaging – Treasury and Education will include a message on the back of envelopes containing this year's tax refund checks to raise awareness of federal student loan repayment options. The message will direct recipients to StudentAid.gov and the Department of Education's Repayment Estimator.
The press release, including samples of the TurboTax banner and the refund check messaging, is available at https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-departments-education-and-treasury-announce-collaboration-intuit-inc-raise-aw.
Further Information
We appreciate the ongoing repayment plan counseling that school personnel and other members of the financial aid community provide to student and parent borrowers. As you continue in those efforts, the following resources are available for your reference:
More information on income-driven plans, and other repayment plan options, is available on StudentAid.gov at http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans.
The Repayment Estimator is available at http://studentaid.gov/repayment-estimator.