PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:            11 May 2000                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:    AR1999032691

	I certify that hereinafter is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.  

	Mr. Carl W. S. Chun		Director	
	Mr. Edmund P. Mercanti		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Raymond V. O'Connor, Jr.		Chairperson	
	Mr. James M. Alward		Member	
	Mr. Christopher J. Prosser		Member	

	The applicant and counsel if any, did not appear before the Board.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

	Exhibit A - Application for correction of military 
                records
	Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
	            advisory opinion, if any)

FINDINGS:

1.  The applicant has exhausted or the Board has waived the requirement for exhaustion of all administrative remedies afforded by existing law or regulations.

2.  The applicant requests that her student loans be paid under the Montgomery GI Bill (it is apparent that the applicant meant to say the Student Loan Repayment Program or SLRP).

3.  The applicant states she enlisted for the SLRP but now there is no record of her being given that option.  Personnel from her unit told her that her inability to have her loans paid was the result of a mistake made by her recruiter and there was nothing they could do to help her.  

4.  In support of her application she submits a copy of her student loan, a loan consolidated from Olivet College by AFSA Data Corporation.  That promissory note shows that the applicant borrowed $10,048.00 on 22 May 1991.

5.  The applicant’s military records show that she enlisted in the USAR for assignment to a troop program unit on 22 January 1987.  At that time she completed a DA Form 5139-R, Loan Repayment Program Statement of Understanding Selected Reserve.

6.  On 25 January 1993 she was transferred from her unit to the USAR Control Group (Reinforcement) due to satisfactory completion of her contractual unit service.  On 24 January 1995 she was honorably discharged at the expiration of her term of service.

7.  The SLRP provides for the repayment by the Government of a designated portion of any outstanding student loan(s) secured after 1 October 1975.  The loan amount to be repaid is 15 percent of the original balance of the loan plus accrued interest not paid by the Department of Education, or $500.00 plus the accrued interest not paid by the Department of the Education, whichever is greater.  Payments will be made for each year of satisfactory service in the Selected Reserve.  The maximum amount of loans against which the 15 percent is computed will not exceed $10,000.  This equates to a maximum annual repayment of $1,500 plus interest.  If the amount set for repayment is less than $500.00, then $500.00 becomes the calculated amount for repayment that year.  To be eligible for the SLRP incentive, a person must contractually obligate himself or herself to serve satisfactorily in a unit or MOS which has been approved by the Department as SLRP eligible, must serve in a reserve unit for a full term of the contractual agreement and must further obligate himself or herself to continue to serve in the same component and the same MOS unless excused for the convenience of the Government.  Entitlement to the SLRP will stop if the soldier is separated from his or her unit.  Each complete satisfactory year of service performed under this SLRP agreement establishes an anniversary date.  Any qualifying loan which is at least a year old may then be paid in accordance with the terms of this educational enlistment incentive.  The Government will not reimburse a soldier if he or she pays off a student loan.  The Government will only pay the lending institution.
8.  Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1552, the law which provides for the Board, states that “The Secretary may pay, from applicable current appropriations, a claim for the loss of pay, allowances, compensation, emoluments, or other pecuniary benefits, or the repayment of a fine or forfeiture, if, as a result of correcting a record under this section, the amount is found to be due the claimant on account of his or another’s service in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard, as the case may be.”

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  It would appear that the applicant did not submit her loans for payment while she was still a member of her unit (the select reserves).  This certainly would have complicated the payment of her loan.  However, although the applicant was eligible for the SLRP and had taken out loans which qualified for payment under the SLRP, due to the age of the applicant’s loan it must be assumed that the note is either in default or paid off, either of which would preclude the payment of her loan under the SLRP.  

2.  It is the opinion of the Board that it would not be fair to deny her a payment on that loan, money she was entitled to receive, because she failed to submit her loans in a timely fashion.

3.  The applicant’s military records may be corrected to show her DA 
Form 5139-R, Loan Repayment Program Statement of Understanding Selected Reserve, was altered to include a paragraph which states “If a student loan was originally payable under the LRP and it is later discovered that it is not payable due to it no longer being outstanding, the ABMCR may pay the loan(s), or any portion of the loan(s), at its sole discretion, in accordance with Title 10, U.S.C., Section 1552.”  This would allow the Board to invoke that provision and pay her the amount her lending institutions would have been paid under the SLRP.

4.  If the applicant had submitted her loan for payment in a prompt fashion she would have received $1,500.00 on the first anniversary date of her enlistment a year after she secured her loan, or 22 January 1993.  She would not have been entitled to any further payments due to her separation from her unit on 25 January 1993.

5.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by:

a.  showing that the DA Form 5139-R, Loan Repayment Program Statement of Understanding Selected Reserve, of the individual concerned, is corrected to include a paragraph which states “If a student loan was originally payable under the LRP and it is later discovered that it is not payable due to it no longer being outstanding, the ABMCR may pay the loan(s), or any portion of the loan(s), at its sole discretion, in accordance with Title 10, U.S.C., Section 1552” and

b.  by showing that the ABCMR has invoked its prerogative under that corrected LRP addendum to pay the individual concerned $1,500.00 under Title 10, U.S.C., section 1552, money that would have been paid to her lending institution under the terms of the foregoing LRP addendum if the loans were still outstanding.

2.  That so much of the application as is in excess of the foregoing be denied.

BOARD VOTE:  

_rvo ____  __jma __  ___cjp___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		____Raymond V. O'Connor, Jr.__
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999032691	
SUFFIX		
RECON	20000511	
DATE BOARDED	YYYYMMDD	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	128.05	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.