The Biden-Harris Administration is actively working to address the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The U.S. Department of Education has announced a series of resources aimed at assisting students, families, borrowers, and educational institutions affected by these natural disasters.
The Department's initiatives include providing guidance, technical assistance, and support for accessing federal resources. They are also facilitating peer-to-peer connections for state and local leaders. Among the recovery efforts are mental health support for students and educators, restoring learning environments, and offering flexibility in managing federal financial aid programs. Affected borrowers with missed payments will be automatically enrolled in a natural disaster forbearance that counts toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and income-driven repayment (IDR) forgiveness.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona emphasized the importance of these efforts: “Increasingly powerful storms like Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton not only threaten lives and livelihoods but also disrupt learning... I have directed our team at the Department of Education to leverage every possible resource available to meet the needs of impacted students, families, and school communities.”
The Department's Disaster Recovery Unit (DRU) is leading efforts to assist education communities post-disaster by collaborating with federal recovery partners. Following Hurricane Helene, they reached out to state educational agencies and over 500 higher education institutions to inform them about financial assistance opportunities such as Project SERV funds.
For K-12 schools, technical assistance includes support from organizations like The National Center for Homeless Education and Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center. These entities help manage safety, security, emergency management programs, behavioral interventions, and provide resources for coping with disasters.
Higher education institutions have access to flexibilities through the office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), which assists with adjusting academic calendars due to closures or leaves of absence without affecting federal aid eligibility.
Communications have been made with schools impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton regarding existing guidance on disaster impacts on schools' operations.
In terms of student loans, affected borrowers in impacted areas will automatically receive natural disaster forbearance without needing to take action unless they wish to proactively enroll by contacting their servicer.
Further information about student loan borrower assistance can be found at StudentAid.gov/naturaldisaster.
