The U.S. Department of Education’s (“ED”) September 10, 2026 Dear Colleague Letter (ANN-26-23), announced the planned move of Borrower Defense to Repayment (“BDR”) case management into FSA Partner Connect and announced webinars held on September 23 and 24, 2026 to provide an overview of the new processes and features.
If you missed those sessions, this post distills ED’s guidance—including access permissions, notification contacts, response deadlines, and evidence-submission requirements—ahead of the expected October 2026 rollout. This post will not unpack the full complexity of the BDR frameworks, but institutions responding to BDR claims, now or in the future, may wish to review our Suggested Protocols for Responding to Individual Borrower Defense to Repayment Claims or past webinars explaining the rule, including: ED’s Proposed Borrower Defense to Repayment Rule: A Detailed Examination.
Borrower Defense Moves to FSA Partner Connect
Currently, the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system is used to provide school notifications and processing for BDR claims. Starting in October 2026, that process will move to FSA Partner Connect.
Existing open cases currently accessible in COD will transfer automatically to Partner Connect. Before they do, institutional Primary and Secondary Administrators should assign Borrower Defense permissions in the Account Access Management Center (“AAMC”) to the staff who will need to view and manage those cases.
ED has indicated the FSA Partner Connect system will include a new case summary page, improved search tools, an enhanced case details view, and modernized evidence management.
Regulatory Tracks: The 1994 and 2016 Regulations vs. the 2019 Regulations
As regular Regucation readers know, the applicable BDR regulation framework (1994, 2016, or 2019) matters because borrower defense claims are generally evaluated under the version of the regulations applicable to the loan based on the loan’s first-disbursement date, and each framework differs significantly in its standards, evidentiary requirements, defenses, and relief provisions.
The regulatory framework will also have a practical effect in FSA Partner Connect.
For the 1994 and 2016 frameworks, schools generally receive a single 60-day opportunity to submit a response and supporting evidence. ED proceeds to adjudicate the application based on the information available.
Under the 2019 borrower defense regulations, the institution receives notice of the claim and is provided a response period specified by ED of at least 60 days. ED then provides the institution’s response and supporting evidence to the borrower, who is given a separate opportunity of at least 60 days to submit a reply. The Secretary generally will not issue a final decision until those response periods have expired and the record is complete. Additional submissions are not contemplated unless requested by the Secretary. Borrowers are able to review the institution’s response, and institutions have access to evidence gathered by ED through a separate Department Evidence section, a procedural feature not available in the same manner under the 1994 and 2016 processes. As more BDR claims are decided under the 2019 framework (applicable to loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2020), this distinction will become more significant.
Notifications: Check Your E-App Section D Contacts
Schools will receive an email when a case opens, but the recipient depends on the contacts listed in Section D of the school’s e-app. That list commonly includes institutional officials such as the school president and financial aid administrator, along with any individuals designated by the institution to receive borrower defense notifications.
Administrators with “Primary” or “Secondary” status in the AAMC can also grant Borrower Defense Center access to other institutional users. Because e-app contacts can become outdated, now is a good time to audit and update them so the right people—including general counsel, compliance, and financial aid—see case notices when they arrive.
Evidence Submission: Practical Requirements
Once a case is live, schools can upload evidence through the case details page. Keep these operational rules in mind:
- Files must be 20 MB or smaller, with up to 10 files uploaded at a time.
- Schools must affirmatively indicate whether an uploaded file contains personally identifiable information (“PII”) for more than one borrower. FSA has flagged that mismarking this creates a data-handling issue, so this should not be treated as a check-box formality.
- A help function next to the Evidence Type dropdown lists accepted categories (affidavits, course catalogs, marketing materials, enrollment agreements, correspondence, loan documents, recruiter training materials, transcripts, etc.) with descriptions to guide categorization.
- Multiple evidence types can be combined into a single upload only if they fall under the same Evidence Type category; mixed-type files should be separated for accuracy.
- The upload window closes automatically when the response deadline passes. Partner Connect does not offer an “extend the evidence period” function, so build internal deadlines with a buffer rather than assuming a grace period.
Recommended Action Items
- Audit e-app Section D contacts now—not when Partner Connect goes live. Verify that email addresses for executive leadership, financial aid directors, and legal contacts are accurate so case notices are not missed.
- Assign Borrower Defense permissions in the AAMC to compliance, legal, and financial aid staff before October 2026 so they can review and manage cases when the new functionality launches.
- Track response deadlines by regulatory track. The 1994 and 2016 regulations generally involve a single school-response window, while the 2019 regulations (applicable to loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2020) adds a second, sequential window for the borrower to reply.
- Monitor FSA’s training resources at fsatraining.ed.gov for recorded walkthroughs and aids as the launch date approaches.
Postsecondary institutions with questions are welcome to contact Scott Goldschmidt or Kyle Venit for assistance.
