Federal Student Loan Discharge

You paid more than you borrowed.
You still owe more than you borrowed.

On November 17, 2022, the federal government changed how it reviews student-loan discharge cases inside bankruptcy. In the published post-guidance data, 87% of the filed cases studied resulted in a full or partial discharge. Almost nobody ever takes this step.

If you have federal student loans and you are in bankruptcy, about to file, or recently discharged, this may be a real path for you.

See if the path fits your case — free, 5 minutes

If your case is not a fit, we say so before we ever charge you.

Source: Jason Iuliano, "Bridging the Student Loan Bankruptcy Gap," American Bankruptcy Law Journal, Dec. 2025

Nov 17, 2022

the date the process changed

87%

of the filed cases studied in the published post-guidance data resulted in a full or partial discharge

7,293 / 3 million

bankruptcy filers with student-loan debt who ever filed this proceeding between 2011 and 2024

The gap no one talked about

Your bankruptcy attorney may not have mentioned this. They probably were not hiding it from you.

For years, the working assumption in consumer bankruptcy was that student loans were functionally untouchable. That assumption shaped how attorneys practiced, how borrowers were advised, and what nobody bothered to explain.

The November 2022 guidance changed the process. The professional muscle memory has not fully caught up.

In Jason Iuliano's published review, roughly 3 million bankruptcy filers had student-loan debt between 2011 and 2024. Only 7,293 ever filed the adversary proceeding that could discharge those loans. The gap is not just qualification. The gap is awareness.

The 87% figure is not a projection. It is the published outcome inside the cases that were actually filed.

The median filer in the dataset was a 47-year-old woman with about $115,000 in federal student loans at filing. If your bankruptcy is open, about to be filed, or recently closed, this path may still be available to you.

Jason Iuliano, "Bridging the Student Loan Bankruptcy Gap," American Bankruptcy Law Journal, Vol. 99, Issue 3 (Dec. 2025)

See if the path fits your case.

6 questions. Under 3 minutes. No payment required to see your result.
You can stop at any time. Your email is not required until the end.

How it works

Three steps. Each one is concrete.

Step 1

See if your case fits

Answer six short questions. Two questions screen for case status and loan type. Four ask about your financial reality. If the path does not look like a fit, we say so before you pay anything.

Step 2

Build your case around the government's 15-page attestation process

FreshStart walks you section by section through the standardized 15-page attestation form the DOJ and Department of Education introduced in November 2022 to evaluate these cases more consistently. You answer in plain English using your real numbers and facts.

Step 3

Prepare the complaint, file, and serve

FreshStart helps you prepare the adversary-proceeding complaint and shows you how to file and serve it inside your bankruptcy case. This does not create a second bankruptcy. It is a separate proceeding inside the case you already have.

Common questions

The questions worth asking before you decide.

Do I need an attorney to do this?

No. You have the legal right to file pro se, meaning on your own behalf. In the published Iuliano data, unrepresented filers performed at rates equal to or higher than represented filers in the earlier dataset. That said, if your facts fall outside what the guided intake is designed to handle, we will tell you and will not charge you.

Is FreshStart a law firm?

No. FreshStart is a guided self-help filing tool. It is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, does not represent users in court, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Can FreshStart help with private student loans?

FreshStart currently focuses on federal student-loan discharge. Private student loans follow a different legal framework. If your loans are private-only, we will route you to the FreshStart Private waitlist.

Will filing this hurt my bankruptcy case?

An adversary proceeding is a normal procedure inside a bankruptcy case. It does not create a second bankruptcy on your record. The government reviews the attestation and can recommend full, partial, or no discharge. The process exists to evaluate the facts of your case.

How long does it take?

The preparation on your side usually takes a few weeks of focused work, at whatever pace you can realistically sustain. Court timing varies. Practitioner consensus suggests months rather than years, but we do not promise a specific timeline.

What if I paid more than I borrowed and still owe more than I borrowed?

That pattern is one of the clearest hardship signals in these cases. If your balance kept rising while you were trying to pay, that matters.

What is the refund policy?

If the free screener says your case is not a fit, you do not pay. If you pay and the guided intake later shows that your case is not a fit for FreshStart, you get a full refund. You also have a 14-day no-questions-asked refund window from purchase.

Is this going to disappear the way broad forgiveness did?

Broad loan-forgiveness programs are policy choices. An adversary proceeding is a statutory process inside bankruptcy. The November 2022 guidance changed how the government evaluates these cases; it did not create the underlying right to file them.

What if I'm too old, still working, or "not bad enough"?

The successful filers in the published Iuliano dataset ranged from age 24 to 76. The median filer was a 47-year-old woman with about $115,000 in federal student loans at filing. These cases are about your actual numbers and circumstances — not whether you fit a dramatic stereotype.

If this is real — and the published data says it is — start with the free screener.

Of the roughly 3 million bankruptcy filers with student-loan debt between 2011 and 2024, only 7,293 ever filed this proceeding. The issue was not that the path never existed. The issue was that almost nobody was shown it clearly.

Check your eligibility — free

You are not late. You are on time.