U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer introduced legislation Wednesday that will require private loan companies to forgive debt if a student borrower dies.

The legislation, called “Andrew’s Law,” is named after Syracuse native Andrew Prior, who was killed by a drunk driver in a hit-and-run automobile accident in Boston in 2010, shortly after graduation from college. His parents, who were cosigners, were hounded for two years by a loan servicing company that refused to forgive his debt.

The legislation aims to extend the same provisions that govern federal student loans, which require that the secretary of education forgive student loans when the student dies, to loans issued by private student loan companies.

Parents would have to provide a death certificate to the loan servicer, as is the case with federal loans.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer