Fill Out Closed School Discharge Application Online
Loan Discharge Application: School Closure
Federal Student Aid
Applies for discharge of federal student loans when the borrower's school closed while they were enrolled or shortly after they withdrew.
Reviewed July 2026
How it works
- 1
Open the form. The official PDF loads straight into the editor, no download needed first.
- 2
Fill it out in the editor. Click anywhere to type, add checkmarks and place your signature.
- 3
Download your PDF. Save the completed form, ready to print or submit.
The Loan Discharge Application: School Closure asks for a full discharge of Direct Loans, FFEL Program loans, or Perkins Loans when the school closed while you were enrolled, while you were on an approved leave of absence, or within 180 days after you withdrew. An approved discharge wipes out the remaining balance and reimburses payments you already made.
The form is a series of yes or no questions about your enrollment and the closure. You can answer them in the Universal PDF editor, download the completed PDF, and sign it before sending it to your loan servicer.
Who qualifies
You may qualify as a student borrower, or as a Parent PLUS borrower answering on behalf of the student, if the school's closure prevented completion of the program. The certification in Section 3 summarizes the conditions:
- You were enrolled when the school closed, were on an approved leave of absence when it closed, withdrew no more than 180 days before it closed, or withdrew earlier than that due to exceptional circumstances described on the form
- You did not complete the program of study at the closed school because of the closure
- You did not complete, are not completing, and have not arranged to complete the same program at another branch of the closed school or at another school through a teach-out agreement
What disqualifies you
Completing the program before the school closed makes you ineligible, and so does completing a teach-out agreement or the same program at another branch or location of the school. If you are still enrolled in a teach-out, you are not eligible at this time but may become eligible if you withdraw from it.
How to fill out the form
Work through the numbered items in Section 2:
- Identify whether you are the student borrower or a Parent PLUS borrower, and name the student if applicable
- Provide the closed school's name and address, your attendance dates, and the program you were enrolled in; the form accepts a Don't Know answer for dates you cannot reconstruct
- Answer the questions about completion, enrollment at closure, leave of absence, withdrawal date, and any teach-out
- Report any refund or payment you requested or received from the school or a third party because of the closure
- Sign and date the certification in Section 3, which also assigns to the Department your right to a refund on the discharged amount
How to submit it and what a discharge does
Send the application to your loan servicer at the address shown in Section 7 of your copy. If your loans are held by more than one loan holder, each needs its own application.
If the discharge is approved, you are no longer required to repay the remaining balance, you are reimbursed for payments you made on the loan, and the discharge is reported to credit bureaus so the loan's negative history is removed. The Department also processes some closed school discharges automatically without an application; filing the form is how you request one directly rather than waiting.
Frequently asked questions
The standard window is 180 days: you qualify if you withdrew no more than 180 days before the school closed. Withdrawals earlier than that can still qualify in exceptional circumstances described in the form's terms, and the Department determines the official closure date.
Transferring credits by itself is addressed by the form's teach-out questions. You become ineligible if you completed the same or a comparable program through a teach-out agreement or at another branch of the closed school. Read the options in Items 13 and 14 carefully before answering.
Yes. If the discharge is approved, you are reimbursed for payments made on the discharged loan, and the discharge is reported to consumer reporting agencies to clean up the loan's history.
Yes. Parent PLUS borrowers apply using the same form and answer the enrollment questions as they apply to the student the loan was borrowed for.
Some borrowers receive automatic closed school discharges when Department records show they qualify, but you do not have to wait for that. Submitting this application asks for a decision directly. StudentAid.gov has the current rules on automatic discharges.
Related forms
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