It is well known that students these days are drowning in debt. And there really isn’t any way around it, unless you’re one of the few who doesn’t have to take out student loans. I wanted to offer some information on the interplay between bankruptcy law and the dischargeability of student loans, because I’ve seen so much misinformation out there passing itself off as reliable guidance. My hope is that this brief introduction will serve as a stimulus for further investigation by those needing it. There is no way that an article of 1200 words can cover any legal topic in detail, but I will strive to hit the relevant points that readers should be aware of.
I want to say at the outset that this article is not meant to serve as legal advice for anyone’s specific situation. It is offered for informational purposes. If there is one thing I’d like readers to take away from this piece—and if you take away nothing else, I hope you take this—it is the necessity of seeking reliable legal advice from an experienced attorney practicing in your jurisdiction.
Bankruptcy law is complicated, and involves an interplay of federal and state law, as well as local procedures, and only an attorney knowledgeable in the case law of your location can truly help you. Do not try to venture into these waters alone. The most dangerous thing in the world is a oblivious man proceeding resolutely from inadequate premises; and the graveyards of litigation are packed with the corpses of those who thought they could just “wing it.”
We begin with a short overview. The U.S. Bankruptcy Code offers several “chapters” that specify various types of debtors that can seek relief. The most commonly encountered are: Chapter 7 (individuals and businesses seeking to liquidate), Chapter 13 (individuals with income seeking debt reorganization), and Chapter 11 (individuals and businesses seeking debt reorganization). The other chapters are not relevant here and will not be discussed. Most commonly filed are Chapters 7 and 13.
Many people have heard the rule that student loans cannot be discharged (i.e., wiped out) in a bankruptcy proceeding. While true for most situations, it is not a fully accurate statement of the law. Student loans can be discharged. But hurdles need to be overcome. It requires litigation (an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy court) and a judicial finding that repayment of the debt would create an “undue burden” for the debtor. But what is undue burden? This is the question that has generated a huge amount of litigation.
“Undue burden” is mentioned in 11 U.S.C. Section 523(a)(8), but case law has provided the case-by-case flesh on these bare bones. Courts around the country have enunciated several tests to evaluate what “undue burden” means. The Second Circuit’s three-part Brunner test is perhaps the most popular. Under this test, student loans can be discharged if the debtor can show that (1) he cannot maintain a minimal standard of living if he is required to repay the loan; (2) such a situation is likely to persist for good period of the repayment term; and (3) the debtor has made a good faith effort to repay the loan. All three parts of the test must be satisfied.
Besides the Brunner test, some courts have applied other ways to evaluate undue hardship. These include the Johnson test (looking at the debtor’s earning ability to repay the obligation while maintaining a minimum living standard), the “totality of the circumstances” test (considering all factors of repayment ability on a case-by-case basis), and the “Bryant Poverty Test” (looking at whether debtor’s net income exceeds the federal poverty line). All of these tests are very fact-specific, and in practice often come down to this: to discharge your debts, you don’t need to be totally destitute, but you will need to prove something more than just normal hardship.
To make things more complicated, some courts have ruled that either all or none of the debts can be discharged, while some courts have said that it is possible to discharge a portion of the debts. Different judicial circuits around the country have molded and modified these tests with case law. So it is essential that you consult with the attorney in your jurisdiction for the most up-to-date and complete state of the law.
One example is useful to describe. In 2008 (In Re Groves, 393 B.R. 673 (W.D. Mo. 2008)), a Chapter 7 debtor in 2008 had $185,000 in student loans she sought to discharge. She had been in a doctoral program and failed to complete it due to her poor grades and resulting depression. The court found that she could, however, still work in the field for which she possessed a master’s degree. She could, therefore, make some payments. The court discharged $148,000 of the loan balance and left the remainder for her to pay.
Another example shows a different outcome. In In Re Campton, 405 B.R. 887 (N.D. Ohio 2009), an unemployed man sought to have $12,500 in student loans discharged. The court here found that the debtor failed all three parts of the Brunner test: he had maintained luxury items like a boat, cable TV, and cigarettes; he could not show his unemployment would continue for the near future; and he failed to show good faith by not making any payments. Clearly, this debtor was unworthy of the student loan discharge.
The ongoing student loan crisis continues to challenge both the government and students. It is unlikely that the Brunner test (dating to 1987) could have contemplated the avalanche of student loan debt that exists now. There was a time (decades ago) when student loans were dischargeable like any other debt, with no need for any litigation.
While those days are unlikely to return any time soon, it does appear to those of us that follow this issue that bankruptcy courts are beginning to be more generous in finding student loans dischargeable. And this makes good sense. Courts have to respond to social realities. A balanced society cannot exists when the backs of the young are permanently burdened with debt from which there is no escape. With the rise of the for-profit lending industry, the trend has been to shift away from favoring the lenders, to favoring the debtors.
If you or someone you know is considering a bankruptcy filing, and student loans exist, it is important at least to be aware of these issues. Knowing what questions to ask is a critical prt of the process. Further, there are many different ways to handle student loans in a bankruptcy. Even if they are not dischargeable, they can be very favorably treated over other debts in Chapter 13 or Chapter 11 reorganizations. Debtors are often surprised at just how much power they really have. Creative application of the law can do wonders for a client.
Those interested in exploring this or other areas of bankruptcy law are recommended to consult with an attorney in their jurisdiction. Depending on where you’re located, further legal information on this and related bankruptcy topics can be found in these links: on the west coast, in the midwest, and on the east coast.
Read More: How To Legally Cheat Your Student Loans In 3 Easy Steps
The push for all students to go university nowadays is insane. Mediocre students graduate with $100,000+ in loans and a bland Business/English/Journalism/Creative Writing/Fine Arts degree that translates to very little because so many people have them and there aren’t that many openings for people with those degrees. Students with Bachelor’s degrees (and sometimes even a Master’s) will end up living at home with Mom and Dad and scraping by with a job at Walmart or McDonalds. It’s sad, because they could have gotten an apprenticeship or gone to a vocational school after high school and avoided the whole mess.
It used to be that a high school diploma was a big deal, because standards were high and it was honestly hard to earn. The American school system needs to focus on giving students a strong education so that a high school education can suffice for many jobs. Then, they can let students know about other options than college and we’ll have a strong workforce both in degree-required and non-degree fields.
The government needs to get out of the college loan business and let the free market take over. If student loan debts were treated like most other loans we wouldn’t have so many students going for majors that have such poor returns.
That and STEM majors need to be pushed a lot more. There’s a demand for STEM field workers/graduates, but students need to be presented with the idea of a STEM major as a challenge, not as something that’s “too hard”.
It probably would also help to tighten up the requirements for entering students (i.e., already have taken/passed algebra/trigonometry, have passed a written exam for English requirements, etc), so that they spend much less time in remedial classes learning high school material and more in actual major courses learning something of value. If they can’t pass the entrance exams or fulfill the requirements, they can work and go to community college and come back next year. I guarantee that’d weed out a whole lot of people who don’t belong in university.
If you eliminated government interference intermediary institutions wouldn’t provide the prospective students with a loan if they were not demonstrating that they would be able to pay it back. Ergo, more students would have to enter fields with higher pay and employment opportunities, such as STEM, or they wouldn’t be receiving the loans in the first place.
Right now, there is an oversupply of STEM workers. And the current employment practice is to use H1-B visas to fill any STEM vacancies, because the Chinese and Indians will do anything to leave their country and stay in the U.S…
I was referring to STEM students of US origin. One of the reasons a lot of companies hire overseas applicants is because there aren’t enough qualified candidates of US origin. I saw a story a little while ago about Apple wanting to open a factory in the US, but being unable to do so because they weren’t able to find enough tech guys/engineers to fill the required positions. Meanwhile, when they went to China, they were able to round up the required numbers in a matter of weeks.
Sure, US companies will hire foreigners if they’re cheap, but what worries me more is the fact that the US as a country is so far behind in promoting STEM to kids and making it a priority in education. STEM is the future, and if a majority of students have a mentality that it’s “too hard” or not “fun” enough, then the future of the US as a front-runner in science is looking pretty grim.
And work for 1/3 of what an American will demand.
College is for idiot partiers. Smart kids should start working part-time at 15 or 16 and start stacking cash. Better off learning real world skills in any area than blowing cash on the college scam.
As Sailer mocks it: “Billionaires for Open Borders”.
Mark Zuckerberg is not content with 10 billion by the age of 30. He needs MOAR MOHNAY and that means that you must give up your job to Zhen Yao Qian from China who will work for half your pay and most importantly, never threaten the any manager’s position because he is unable to look anyone in the eye.
There is a push to send them to University to hide the fact that there are not enough jobs to accommodate them in the workforce. Their going to university helps to hide this from the unemployment statistics, and provides a source of funds to the government/banks/fake economy. The situation has gotten real bad now, as we do not have enough jobs for the current population and it has been this way for several years, if not over a decade now.
Impossible, if there are not enough jobs for Americans, why would Fedgov allow 1 million immigrants per year?
They are needed for jobs that Americans just won’t do, like software engineering. What about all those apps rotting in the fields?
Always trust Fedgov, we are only one TSA crotch rub away from armageddon.
Dave Ramsey spoke to a caller one time that had a $86,000 student loan and went a private Christian college. She had BA in Math. She’s a public school teacher and makes $33K a year…
I almost ran off the road when she said that. Obviously someone didn’t do the MATH before they applied for the loan.
Scenarios like this are all too common.
The deeper question is: why have young men (and women) done nothing to improve their lives, and allowed the accumulation of debts?
I stopped receiving pocket money from my parents at nine, built an alembic based on a book I found in the school library, distilled perfume, and ripped girls of their money.
Did she have big tits?
I was going to ask the same thing but obviously she doesn’t. With a nice set of cannons, she would at least have a sponsor.
Indeed. Some older guy with lots of cash and a stable of poon for the big bills, and some young beta provider to carry her books and buy her lunch.
Exactly. I have no sympathy for females who insist on running the rat race but have no sense of proprietary. Maybe it’s time to head #backtothekitchen
#backtothekitchenorelse
I think people are desperate for the education – our parents generation did a poor job in safeguarding opportunities for the younger generation (sorry older guys, but it is true). I mean, there aren’t enough jobs as it is anyways due to our destructive ‘leaders’ (what a joke), so even people in trades will find low work with lower wages in the future. What choices does a young person have, when there is not just a lack of guidance from parents, job counsellors etc.., but also a LACK OF JOBS to boot? We can’t just place the blame on people who take out the loans – they are merely sold a false bill of goods and at least most of them are TRYING to improve their lot in life.
Our generation is so screwed…
Gee dude. Hey listen, sorry I didnt “safeguard opportunities for the younger generation”..
…While I was working my ass off 40 hours a week since I was 18.
How inconsiderate of me.
Okay – blaming is in poor taste. I have come to realize that people of all generations and all colors/creeds have been sold a bill of false goods. We’re all manipulated. Still, in the UK I do regularly see adults in the 40-60 age range who have disposable cash and spend it on the weekends drinking and trying to get poosy, whereas the younger generation cannot afford to do so. The older generation don’t care about the younger ones and often are poor role models IMHO – although there are exceptions. But if the roles were reversed, and the same opportunities were available to our generation, perhaps we’d be just as bad if not worse.
I think the real problem is that most of us are unaware of how our respective societies and economies work. This has caused much suffering home and abroad, as we wage wars and don’t take care of those at home, whilst a minority of uber rich profit from the whole debacle.
You know what thst means? It means you were a man, you were a bread winner. An economic unit, lacking in polity, in societal terms: a fool.
When Solon reformed the Athenian system, he stipulated that a man who had failed to provide a future for his son had forfeited an support in old age from the son.
All hard work in the world means nothing- except some cheap lumpenprole bragging rights- if it was to someone else’s future benefit.
Seriously dude. Polity. Solon and the Athenian system.
You really give the term Faggotry a whole new meaning.
Stick that up your Lumpenprole.
Whatever douchebag. When I was a punk bitch your age I whined about older people and all their money and cars and fun they were having too. Guess what? I worked my ass off after going to high school at a shitty dishwashing job at a hotel until 11pm every night then rode my bike back home 4 miles – just to get home to get up for school the next day at 8am. 5 nights a week. When I was 16.
Little pissy ass bitches today.
Like faggot above with the “Solon and the Athenian system” bullshit.
Get off the fucking net and faggot Iphone and get a fucking job and quit fucking crying. Your mom and dad are both faggots.
You’re the faggot, faggot. You worked like a bitch making lots of profit for people who didn’t respect you and because you allowed yourself to be treated poorly for paltry rewards that’s the new standard.
Also he’s right about your prole pride being bullshit. You worked like an animal and you’ve left nothing for the future. The bosses who profited by your sweat will leave behind advantaged progeny and at best you’ll leave behind a new batch of wage slaves to serve them.
I don’t think any of these loans should be discharged. Indicative of what our culture is becoming- no personal responsibility for anything. I’m sure Obama or future Pres. Hillary would love to concoct some loan forgiveness program to eliminate any consequential decision-making for their blue-pill supporters.
Followed by tax-payer funded free tuition to any university of your choosing, entrance criteria be damned.
This is the policy in my country (Argentina) and people do not complain now (it has been free since the 1960s). The most important State universities are hard anyway, most people left their studies or take long years to finish. You could say that it is a waste of taxpayer´s money, but a more educated population is better than a less educated one. For many people, their first year in Uni is their only year of education, and I prefer a guy/girl that can understand some basic concepts in Mathematics, History and Hard/Social Sciences that somebody that has only a slight idea from what he could take in high-school.
Wrong.
“No personal responsibility for anything.”
Yeah, right.
Like the “personal responsibility” displayed by lending institutions in passing out loans to anyone and everyone?
Like the personal responsibility displayed by mortgage companies is treating the mortgage market like a casino or roulette wheel?
Like the personal responsibility by the big banks who want all the benefits of giving loans, but then want the federal gov’t to act as their collection agency?
Like the responsibility displayed by politicians who allowed the finance industry to take over the country, destroyed the Depression-era regulations separating commercial and personal banking, and bankrupt the country?
Is that the kind of responsibility you’re talking about? Don’t make me laugh. That’s the kind of talk that an out-of-touch person would make. People are suffering out there. We’re in a fucking depression here and no one is acknowledging it.
Bankruptcy is a tool like any other. When someone’s appendix bursts, you take him to a doctor.
Debtors are people like you and me. People are there because of a business failure, medical disaster, divorce, or other issue. It can happen to anyone. Including you.
It did happen to me. I was in debt $48k for a bachelors in Economics. It wasn’t a good decision at all and if I had to do it over again I would have gone to a different school. But I still managed to pay it off like a responsible person would do. That involved doing things I did not enjoy but I got it done nonetheless. And that is the difference between me and many of these other debtors.
Furthermore, all these economic problems you are listing are associated with mindless overconsumption. Including my own debt issues. Live within your means and these problems magically disappear. But Americans don’t want to do that.
Bullshit.
“All these economic problems you are listing are associated with mindless overconsumption.”
I’ve been practicing in this area for 14 years. I’ve handled hundreds of cases and litigated both corporate and personal cases throughout that time.
Almost all of my clients are people who have been hit hard by unforseen and unexpected crises. These are people with families who make little money, or people who had medical issues with no insurance, or had businesses fail and were signed for a lot of vendors and suppliers.
Sure, you have a few people here and there who get into problems with overspending on credit cards.
But these are a small minority.
The big companies know how to use the bankruptcy laws to their advantage, believe me.
Nobody whines about “responsibility” when they do it. It’s about time people learned about weapons they have at their disposal.
The corporate media doesn’t want people to know the truth about how the laws work. They want you to just be an impoverished urchin to slave away to their tune.
“Sure, you have a few people here and there who get into problems with overspending on credit cards. But these are a small minority.”
No, it is a systemic problem with Americans. Our willingness to take on debt in order to consumer more is what is fueling these debt crises in the first place.
-Average Household CC debt: $15,799
-% of consumers carrying an unpaid balance for the last 12 months: 56
-Average CC debt for undergrad students: $3,173
*Source: Federal Reserve, Join Economic Committee, Sallie Mae, TransUnionDate Verified: 7.24.2012
“The corporate media doesn’t want people to know the truth about how the laws work. They want you to just be an impoverished urchin to slave away to their tune.”
I agree, but I still place the onus on the individual consumer. All consumers should expect firms to operate in their own interests within the framework of a very favorable legal environment. They can afford the lobbyists and lawyers. I have no doubt that they are exploiting consumers at every opportunity. That’s essentially their business model.
John:
Here’s what you don’t understand. The ‘money’ that is ‘loaned’ was created out of thin air when the ‘lender’ made an entry in the books. It didn’t exist prior to the loan agreement. It’s not the same as if you borrowed from your family or someone else you knew. The lenders are profiting by charging you interest on something that they created out of thin air. The entire ‘loan’ is a fiction, and should be dealt with as such…
The whole cry for personal responsibility is laughable when the gov, banks and others exercise zero responsibility. I find it to be total bullshit when people applaud a company bankruptcy as smart business but a personal bankruptcy as a character failure.
This is a very, very good point.
School tuitions have skyrocketed far beyond the rate of inflation in the past 25 years.
Much of this money is going to fatten the salaries of do-nothing administrators, bureacrats, and similar wasteful things.
While that is not directly relevant, it does make one question the altruistic “motives” behind these loans.
They take your money for four years or more, then they throw you to the wolves.
Well, maybe you should ask yourself why real wages for the average working man/woman in the US has gone down, or stayed stagnant, for the past 25 years.
I’m not denying that there are people out there who are living beyond their means.
But working families are getting zero help.
In the US, real health insurance is expensive, prohibitively so for many people.
Education here is expensive also. Unlike in many European countries, where the government subsidizes it.
So, for many people, living from paycheck to paycheck in the US has become habitual.
Where personal responsibility ends and environment begins is a debate we can have forever. And I do agree that people here have been sold a lifestyle that is not sustainable.
But the whole culture here is focused on consumption, consumption, consumption. So, culture matters. For many people, that’s the only message they ever hear.
Someone needs to learn about fractional reserve banking methinks..
that would be you?
RJ is correct.
Yes, and when you consider that all of corporate law is built on a foundation of denial of personal responsibility, it’s even more ridiculous. Let’s ask all these moralists if they would support a repeal of limited liability for corporate directors, officers, and shareholders.
Sorry. I dont argue with idiots.
I understand the deposit expansion process. It has been going on for centuries. That doesn’t justify recklessness on the lender’s part.
Real wages for the middle class have declined for a multitude of reasons. I would argue technology and lack of proper political representation are the greatest factors.
It’s undeniable that our entire culture is based on consumption but the individual consumer must be capable of identifying that.
You need to find place in your model to accomodate the behaviour of dumb people.
What happens if you ask a child to choose between broccoli and ice cream? You can be all like:
“Kids should choose broccoli, it is good for them. Ice cream only tastes good but it makes you fat and gives you cavities. The onus is on the individual consumer to choose right because Haagen Daaz is not required by law to make sure that they eat a balanced diet”.
Despite the logic of what you say, you are still going to end up with a bunch of sick, fat kids.
Awesome, awesome point. The debt money system is killing the West. End the Fed.
All women are warned to beware of players but 20% of guys get 80% of the available poosy.
I would argue mass immigration from the 3rd World since 1965 caused the decline because supply and demand applies to labour too.
You can’t save the stupid.
You are right. Economic models assume behaviors of people are logical. I think we (Americans) are getting what we deserve. After all, how many true red pillers are there? Maybe 10% of the US population. Most of the US is plugged in to the matrix and would be better off dead than being told the truth.
“Like the responsibility displayed by politicians who allowed the finance
industry to take over the country, destroyed the Depression-era
regulations separating commercial and personal banking, and bankrupt the
country?”
That’s the only one that really matters. Lending institutions, mortgage lenders, and big banks are all enabled from D.C. They’re just doing what they’re allowed to, which is the result of being paid up with the law-makers. Considering the amount of oversight and regulation supposedly in place to watch those institutions, I can’t fault them for engaging in shoddy practices. They’re allowed to do so.
Responsibility also needs to be placed on the idiot parents and high school teachers that spout off endlessly to naive dumb punks on the import of a worthless piece of paper that now means nothing in the real world job market without experience, soft skills and / or a network of contacts.
“I don’t think any of these loans should be discharged.”
i have to disagree,
A lot (if not most) of these SL are fraudulent one way or another. These students are being “sold” a bill of goods.
I’m too lazy to google it, yet there is a class action suit somewhere by, of all things, young attorneys who can’t find “work” due to market saturation vs the schools that “enlarged” their law schools to cash in on subsidized (guaranteed) loans.
They should be discharged through bankruptcy like normal loans.
I agree that borrowers must have personal responsibility but so must bankers. Seen much of that going around?
If they were treated as normal loans, lenders wouldn’t be proving the loans to borrowers that were deemed incapable of paying it back. So again, if the government weren’t involved, there wouldn’t be the problem that exists now.
I am not arguing that bankers have created a system that is nearly inconsequential to their poor decisions. If it were up to me they would burn just like the individual borrower. Alas, they have the lobbying power to make the environment more favorable. However, the average American is still the one voting those politicians in that create the favorable environment. So ultimately, I am blaming the same ignoramuses that don’t know any better.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY — Fine, let’s start with expecting the banks to be responsible for their BAD DEBT.
See, that’s the business that banks are supposed to be in — calculating RISK, and TAKING A LOSS whenever they issue an unsecured loan that turns out to be a bad investment.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY means more than requiring individuals to do as they are told by banks, academia and government, who are colluding with one another to issue BAD DEBT, drive up prices, and avoid the RESPONSIBILITY of taking the LOSS.
Personal responsibility involves taking up debt when required- which isn’t what is happening in this country. People take on debt for reasons other than necessity. I still don’t understand the logic in blaming the lender for the borrower’s ignorance.
Johnny must work for an investment bank and/or own student-loan backed IRAs or some sheez. Dude wouldn’t be crying so hard agains a student debt discharges/jubilee if he didn’t have some skin in the game on the bank side of teh equation.
I blame the lender for their lobbyists procuring special favors from the government. Lenders have been artificially insulated from the natural risk associated with college loans. Take away the special protection and there would be fewer loans (by a lot), and the price of the good in question (education) would drop.
In other words, the special protection to banks has driven up the price, thereby necessitating larger and larger loans, and thus larger and larger profits for the protected lender (who is now Uncle Sam).
You have seen what the student loan (i.e., the banker protectionism) program has done to the price of college, right?
No. And I never have. I simply have no sympathy for the financial ignorance of the average American. Not to mention, it is the average moron American electing the officials that are creating this environment in the first place.
I chalk up my decision to leave college after a semester to waiting a few years after high school to attend. I had lived on my own, and held an actual job during that time, and it gave me a better grip on what was and was not a good use of money. Having to buy a professor’s book at the school book store for $65 because it was “required” for the class, fell under the ‘not’ category. I also had the minimal amount of self-reflection to acknowledge I had do direct and focused desire to pursue any particular career path and I could spend an inordinate amount of money to find out, or I could go back to working and make money while I found out. I realized I had made the a good decision when one snowy, bitter-cold, January morning, that the guy helping me cart stacks of 40’s into a New-American owned ghetto convenience store had gone to college for 4 years.
Quintus – great article
For ROK readers currently in college or those considering to take on a loan to get in college, this Rolling Stone article is mandatory reading: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ripping-off-young-america-the-college-loan-scandal-20130815
“…the government actually stands to make an enormous profit on the president’s new federal student-loan system, an estimated $184 billion over 10 years, a boondoggle paid for by hyperinflated tuition costs and fueled by a government-sponsored predatory-lending program that makes even the most ruthless private credit-card company seem like a “Save the Panda” charity”
Isn’t the fact that you can afford an attorney evidence that you can probably afford to continue paying your loans?
No, not really.
The size of student loans is astronomical in comparison with a typical debtor’s legal fees.
Getting an education now adays is like buying a $60,000 condo in Russia on a promise that it will be built.
More like $85,000…
SO YOU’RE AN ATTORNEY? AND YOU’RE HELPING PEOPLE BREAK THE LAW IN ADDITION TO CONTIRBUTING TO A WEBSITE THAT ADVOCATES RAPE AND HATE SPEECH?
WHY DON’T YOU BE A “MASCULINE MAN” AND REVEAL YOUR IDENTITY MR. MAN? SO WE CAN THEN HAVE YOU DEFEND YOURSELF IN FRONT OF A COURT OF YOUR PEERS?
Welcome back Sugar. Vibrator batteries run out?
There is a huge issue currently that too many people that could get scholarships at lower ranked state institutions are foregoing that route to attend higher ranked schools that include little to none monetary assistance. Outside of the BIG BIG names like Harvard, employers really don’t higher based on school ranking. All that matters is that you have an accredited degree.
If one plans on going into a math related field (that pays well) then they should probably consider the ranking of the programs since engineering firms are a bit more anal about school names and reputations. However, someone who doesn’t know what they want to do or can’t point to big dollar signs at the end of the tunnel should consider campuses that will give them money to attend.
I attended Syracuse for my undergraduate, and I work alongside people that graduated from massively lower ranked schools such as Sam Houston State. I could have attended that prison-town school for free and probably ended up on the same career path, but I was too concern with status back then.
The truth of the matter is that the academic cartel, the banking cartel, and the federal government have all conspired to enslave the youth of this country before they have barely gotten started in life. By the time most of the young figure it out , it is too late.
In a sane system, you would want the young to start out with as little debt as possible so that they would have the resources to start families and build a productive life. But of course, our banker led system is anything but sane. Evil and exploitative, yes. Sane, no.
good article, thanks
Discharge student loans? Easier to find a Korean named “Phil” or “David”…
Excellent read, QC. Articles like this are making RoK one of the very best places on the web for men to get solid info.
Had a recent discussion with a 22 year old waitress who was going back to get her masters in psychology. I told her to hold off on giving her future husband the $60k in debt. She laughed. She said “The (masters) degree will show him I deserve respect”
Can’t argue with someone missing a chromosome in every cell in their body…
Beware, or you will be paying back the 60k.
Did she have big tits?
Well, student loan debt is a huge issue. Many people really drown in dent because they have massive debt. In some occasions filing for bankruptcy can be a way out but such decision also has many lacks. I think it’s better to focus on paying down the student loan and try to find a way to get out of debt. It’s necessary to work really hard to be able to save some money to eliminate the college debt. I know people who are already obsessed with saving money because they want to get out of debt as soon as possible. Also there are those applying to online provider suggesting unsecured loans to get extra cash to stay afloat because the lion’s share of their income goes for student loan debt elimination.