Hypothetical

[Guesser]

Let's say Biden is able to find a way to forgive student loan debt like has been talked about. Can anyone think of a way to take advantage of that as a SMART recipient to minimize the amount owed for people who defaulted or new grads about to begin their service commitment? After all, SMART is a loan you pay back with your time instead of cash and we all could have taken loans instead of joining the program. My idea was to take out a loan, hold the cash, and if the loan gets forgiven then pay back SMART. It's a longshot, but just looking to see if anyone has thought of this.

[malarious]

They have you on a contract and none of it counts as a student loan. So I do not expect they will even remotely try to negotiate, they already have the edge and want to discourage dropping.

[human234895]

The other responder is correct. Defaulting on SMART gets accounted as a debt to the U.S. government, not a student loan.