The Department of Education’s Cancer Treatment Deferment Request form (OMB No. 1845-0154) allows student loan borrowers to request “deferment on [their] eligible loans and forbearance on [their] ineligible loans during cancer treatment and for 6 months after.” We requested database records showing the Department’s response to borrowers requesting deferment.

On December 31, 2024, the Department of Education provided a spreadsheet with aggregate numbers of borrowers and loan balances by state. Portions were withheld under FOIA Exemption (b)(6). The agency’s response noted that “FSA cancer treatment deferment applications are not received by FSA systems,so FSA is unable to provide the data points as requested. You asked for individual data pointsbased on the applications/forms. However, FSA does not have the forms and so is unable toprovide the data.”

To get started with the data, please consult the Data Liberation Project’s introductory documentation.