Are Ryan Folsom's student loans not being discharged and forgiven following his tragic death? Your new stories say that "funds are being raised to cover medical school loans." His family shouldn't have to pay those, right?
— James, Ashland
As is often the case, James, this question has more than one answer: Some loans are forgiven posthumously. Others are not.
Federal loans are cancelled if the borrower dies. The survivors need only to present a death certificate to the lender.
Parent PLUS loans are another common student loan. As their name indicates, parents are the ones on the hook for these loans, but they can be forgiven if either the parent or the student dies. However, the IRS treats remaining debt as taxable income, which could result in a difficult year for taxes for the family who ends up bearing the brunt.
Private student loans vary. Not all lenders forgive the debt. As with other loans, responsibility for paying them off passes to a cosigner in the event of the student's death.
The Association of American Medical Colleges said the average student debt for 2015 medical school grads was $183,000. A third of graduates also bear an average debt of $24,000 from their undergraduate studies.
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