In case you have not researched it yet, there is a forgiveness program for Student Loan Debt. There are drawbacks, and you must do your part, but when facing a mountain of debt that is never going to go away, (ie. student loans are not dischargeable in Bankruptcy), any little bit of relief helps.
I know several students that went to “for profit colleges” like PC Pro, or ITT Tech. Both of these schools are now out of business, so if you have a Federal Student Loan, it is possible to have it discharged. Unfortunately, if it’s a private student loan or if you went on the GI bill, you are in for a fight. Private loans mean you will have to deal with a “servicer”, and apply to them for relief, sounds great, but I wish you luck. Don’t stop reading here, there is help.
Here’s the deal. These colleges were only in it for the money. They made a lot of promises, but the education they provided was substandard. Most of the graduates could only find jobs at the local Starbucks, or Home Depot. Jobs they could have gotten without a degree, or 30,000.00 in debt. On top of the job provided, the minimum wage job is not enough to keep up with the debt payments, much less pay it off. A known fact of these colleges is that they included these jobs in their “job placement numbers” on all of the advertising pamphlets. I get it, a good cup of coffee is hard to find, but Starbucks has a top notch job training program they don’t charge for. As a matter of fact, they will pay you to learn.
With the recent Federal Crack down and closing of many for profit schools, and in the absence of real help for private student loans, I would urge all to start reading the FDCPA. In case you were in school when the news broke, it’s the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It is the consumers, and students are consumers too, best weapon for combating the predatory acts of these schools.
Most of these schools have either closed, have been shut down by Federal Regulators, or are being investigated, and well on their way to being closed. Why? Well misrepresentation is one of the main reasons. You see, they rope you into 30k worth of debt, provide a $600.00 education, and skip to the next sucker that can sign a promissory note. The promises they make are never kept. Every message board I have read, the complaint data base of the CFPB, (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), another entity you should look up, has made the same claim. The schools are a scam from beginning to end. The school misrepresented job placement, quality of the education, the job the type of job the degree would get consumers, the list goes on……
Misrepresentation is basically a fancy word for “lying”. We have all done it, but most of us did not make 30k for each lie we told! The problem with higher education is until recently, it did not come with a guarantee. If schools had to give you a refund when they failed to live up to their promises, it would be a much better system. This is not the reality we live in, we live here, in the world where a school can profit off your naiveté, and desperation to obtain better for yourself. You get the debt and a poor education, while the school gets the money.
If you are in default, start by reading the FDCPA. There is protection for you. At the very least, you should be filing a complaint with the CFPB on the college and servicer you are dealing with. For profit colleges are in the spotlight, my advice, use every one of your protections and every tool available to right the wrong that was done to you. These for profit schools engaged in what is criminal behavior, and they should be held accountable.
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T.
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