Should You Apply to Have Your Student Loans Forgiven? Student loan debt nearly t
ID: 1133214 • Letter: S
Question
Should You Apply to Have Your Student Loans Forgiven? Student loan debt nearly tripled in the last decade thanks to many attending for-profit colleges. For hundreds of thousands buried in student loan debt, a little known 1994 program called “Borrower Defense” or “Defense to Repayment” sponsored by the Education Department offers a lifeline. The program is available for those students who obtained loans from the government’s Direct Loan program. “The law says students are entitled to forgiveness of existing debt—and, possibly, reimbursement of any repaid loans—if they can show their school violated state law in getting them to take out the debt. (An example might be if a school lied in its advertisements about how many of its graduates landed jobs.) However, it’s not clear what documentation the borrower needs to prove fraud.” Thousands have applied to have their loans expunged under the program. In the last six months of 2015, for example, 7,500 former students applied to have $164 million in student loans expunged. The U.S. Education Department has already agreed to cancel nearly $28 million in debt and indicated many more will likely get forgiveness. Assume that you recently graduated from a state university. You took the required courses for your bachelor’s degree and excelled in your studies. You made the Dean’s List each semester of your last two years and interned for a social services organization in your community. You hoped you’d be able to work in your chosen field of psychology and be able to pay off the debt a few years after graduation. Like many students, you paid for the majority of your education with student loans. Three years after graduation, your career has not turned out as expected. Instead of working in your chosen field of psychology, you have a low paying job at a retail chain and wait tables on weekends to make ends meet. You weren’t aware that psychology positions required a graduate degree. Your student loan debt remains unpaid, and you recently heard about the borrower defense program. You are considering whether or not to apply for the Borrower Defense program.
What would you do?
1. Apply for loan forgiveness and hope that the broad language of the law will make an exception for your state college education and loan. Besides, what’s wrong with asking?
2. Apply for loan forgiveness. After all, you aren't benefiting from your education, someone should have told you that you needed a graduate degree in psychology to get a good job, and there is no clear definition of fraud.
3. Don't apply. You were never promised a job and you made the decision to major in psychology. You could have chosen a field with more job opportunities.
4. Invent other options. Discuss.
(P.S I would prefer other options than the three mentioned above and give detailed reasons to the options)
Explanation / Answer
This is a very critical issue involving the career of the student, and the career of the student is at stake if the college is not been able to provide jobs to the student as promised when the student joined the college.
First of all the student had to research the college while joining and see whether the past students had landed with proper jobs or not then only he or she will join the college.
And as far as the repayment of loan is concerned my strong opinion will be to apply for loan as forgiveness. Because now you could not do anything if the college not been able to provide you the desired job you want. You might take any legal action against the college but that would involve monetary matters. And that would not be the greatest idea because you are already debt ridden.
So my strong suggestion would be to apply for loan forgiveness under Borrower Defense” or “Defense to Repayment” sponsored by the Education Department because you need to pay off your debt as soon as you want because when you start earning, all your hard earn earnings will be swiped away by the loan, and you will not be able to save anything.
So please go for the loan forgiveness under the scheme of the government and definately you will be able to provide the required documents to the Govt Authority stating what was promised by the college was not fulfilled. And along side you would also search some good jobs and start earing as soon as possible.