Legislation is inspired by Eagan family
By: Apple Valley SUN Thisweek – 5/13/21
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, DFL-Eagan, introduced the Ryan Frascone Memorial Student Loan Relief Act of 2021, which would close a loophole in federal law to retroactively release all cosigners on all private student loans upon a student’s death.
In 2018, the law was changed to release bereaved parents from their deceased student’s loans – but the change was not retroactive, forcing many families to continue to pay.
Craig is reintroducing this bill on behalf of Mark and Julie Frascone of Eagan who tragically lost their son, Ryan, to an opioid overdose in May 2013. More than eight years after Ryan’s death, Mark and Julie still write monthly checks to pay Ryan’s student loans.
While there are some protections in the law for families with private and public student loans in place as of 2018, some families with private loans are still paying monthly and depending on the compassion of the student loan servicer for loan forgiveness.
“Losing a child is one of the worst things that can happen to a parent – an unimaginable tragedy,” Craig said. “The last thing that any bereaved parent should have to undergo is a monthly reminder of their loss in the form of a student loan payment. It’s long past time that we fixed this glaring oversight and bring some sense of relief to these grieving families. I’m proud to introduce this common-sense legislation in Ryan’s memory and eternally grateful to Mark and Julie for sharing their story and working with me to ensure that Congress eliminates this senseless burden on surviving family members across the country.”
“We are so very proud and honored to have our dear son Ryan remembered in this way,” Mark and Julie Frascone wrote in a statement.
Craig first introduced this legislation in the 116th Congress.