ProPublica was provided with the attached information. They chose to include less than 7 sentences out of 11 pages of factual responses submitted by HESAA two weeks prior to publication. HESAA's response would have detracted from the salacious narrative pre-determined for the article by its author. Based on the journalist's questions and tone, it appears that the article was already drafted before she received HESAA's responses, at which time she chose phrases and sentences out of context to cut and paste to try and make her case. This article misrepresents HESAA’s loan practices, offers more opinion than fact and should be treated as a poorly researched, one-sided and biased Op-Ed that does a terrible disservice to the more than 65,000 students being currently served by NJCLASS loans. Because the reporter misrepresented HESAA’s history of loan forgiveness for borrowers who die or became severely disabled, please review the following factual information: HESAA regulations (N.J.A.C. 9A:10-6.17), the NJCLASS Promissory Note and the bond indentures allow for loan forgiveness only in the event of the death or total and permanent disability of the borrower when there is no cosigner or other party (hereinafter “cosigner”) on the loan. When there is a cosigner on the loan, the regulations, the Promissory Note and bond indentures all provide that the cosigner is liable for the debt, and make no provision for loan forgiveness based on the financial condition of the borrower or cosigner. In fact, the Promissory Note expressly states that the loan is not forgiven if there is a cosigner or any remaining parties on the loan. Regardless, HESAA has a well-established practice of providing loan forgiveness when the student on the loan dies and cosigners are able to establish a severe financial hardship. The policy was formalized in 2012 when Gabrielle Charette assumed the position of Executive Director and it was adopted by the HESAA Board in October 2015. The policy includes the following definition of financial hardship: Severe Financial Hardship - Situations where the overall financial circumstances of the individual seeking relief are such that he/she is unable to maintain a basic standard of living and still make debt payments and these circumstances are likely to persist for the balance of the life of the loan. Loan forgiveness based upon the financial condition of a cosigner on the loan of a deceased student/borrower is provided from HESAA’s own funds, not from bond funds, and while HESAA has not declined an application for loan forgiveness based upon the unavailability of funds, the ability of HESAA to forgive such debt remains dependent upon the availability of funds to do so. In the last ten years (July 2006 - June 2016) HESAA forgave 670 loans because of the death or permanent disability of a borrower, totaling $6,885,175. Of the 670 loans forgiven, 510 loans had a single borrower and 160 loans had cosigners on the loan and were forgiven under the policy referenced above. The 160 loans with cosigners, totaling $1,783,828, were forgiven following the death or total and permanent disability of the borrower (student) and a determination by HESAA of financial hardship of the cosigner. Since the policy was formalized in 2012, during the period from July 2012 to July 2016, HESAA received 62 applications for loan forgiveness from cosigners of loans to deceased students, and 47 loans, totaling $560,086, were approved for loan forgiveness (about 76%) and 15 were denied. Some denials were based upon the applicant’s refusal to provide documentation of their financial condition.