The Department of Education and VA run a periodic data match that identifies borrowers who are coded 100% Permanent and Total (P&T) and who also carry a federal student loan balance. When a match hits, the Department of Education (through its designated servicer, which has been Nelnet for the TPD discharge process) sends a notice explaining that the loans qualify for discharge under 34 CFR 685.213 and that the borrower has 60 days to either accept the discharge, do nothing (which results in automatic discharge), or affirmatively opt out.
Opting out is done by responding to the notice, typically by contacting the servicer handling TPD discharge and stating in writing that you do not want the discharge because you intend to borrow additional federal student aid. It's worth requesting written confirmation each time, since a phone call alone does not always generate a durable paper trail, and having documentation matters if there's ever a dispute about your aid eligibility later.
Official 2026 VA monthly compensation, including the 2.8% COLA increase.
Dependent add-ons start at a 30% rating. Child-only and dependent-parent rates: see the full 2026 pay chart.
| Rating | Monthly (2026, incl. 2.8% COLA) |
|---|---|
| 10% | $180.42 |
| 20% | $356.66 |
| 30% | $552.47 |
| 40% | $795.84 |
| 50% | $1,132.90 |
| 60% | $1,435.02 |
| 70% | $1,808.45 |
| 80% | $2,102.15 |
| 90% | $2,362.30 |
| 100% | $3,938.58 |
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Analyze my claim free →Because the data match is not a one-time event, being flagged once does not guarantee you'll be left alone in future cycles. If you continue to hold a federal loan balance while remaining coded 100% P&T, there is a reasonable chance the match will flag you again in a subsequent cycle, which means you may need to opt out more than once over a multi-year degree plan. There isn't a firm public rule guaranteeing exactly how many times a borrower can decline or whether the servicer treats repeat opt-outs any differently, so outcomes here can vary by servicer and by how the match happens to run in a given cycle.
One thing that catches people off guard: even after an eventual discharge is accepted, there is a post-discharge monitoring period (generally three years) during which certain events — including taking out new federal student loans — can result in the discharged debt being reinstated. That is a separate issue from the opt-out question, but it matters for sequencing, since the plan of accepting discharge only after all borrowing is finished is the correct way to avoid triggering reinstatement during that monitoring window.
Because servicer practices and the timing of data-match cycles are not something that can be predicted with certainty from general rules, the concrete next step is to call the loan servicer handling TPD discharge directly, ask specifically how repeat opt-outs are processed and documented, and request written confirmation of the opt-out each time a notice arrives.
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