<p>Have two nieces with Masters in Public Health. Both went to Barnard undergrad and then Columbia for MPH. They earn enough to pay their school loans and share living expenses but not enough where they can have high living standards. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>I don’t know what sort of legal adviser would tell her her debt would be discharged. That’s EXTREMELY unlikely. It’s possible to get them discharged in some circumstances, but a court is very unlikely to buy the argument that “I want to stop working so I can go to medical school and when I’m not working I won’t be able to pay these loans.”</p>
<p>This isn’t my area of law, but it’s my understanding that if she does seek to have them discharged, it’s an adversary proceeding. That means a rep for the loan source has the right to show up and argue why the loans should not be discharged. The adversary proceeding in and of itself will cost her additional $ above the standard costs of a bankruptcy proceeding.</p>
<p>I also doubt that once she’s failed to pay back $100,000 loan anyone is going to loan her money to get a post-bac, especially because if she does go, there’s no guarantee she’ll get into med school. And then getting loans for med school is going to be even more difficult.</p>
<p>@collectiv
I suppose. 
She doesn’t want to file bankruptcy at all, but she’s overwhelmed. I guess she has to continue working for scraps to pay off loans and the like. I’ll tell her to continue consulting legal advisers, though. There has to be SOME way for her to go back to school… I feel so bad for her because her choice of college and the fact that she had a child young has almost ruined her life.</p>
<p>@North
I’m glad for them! Yeah, my family member doesn’t want lots of money, just enough to live comfortably (car, decent home, some savings…).</p>
<p>@jonri
She simply threw out the IDEA of med school. It isn’t definitive. Also, she isn’t able to pay the loans because she CANNOT afford it at all. She has no job security, no car and barely makes ends meet. She is rather tired of this and wants to go back to school. She is in no way lazy. In fact, in extremely harsh circumstances, she’s proven herself to be very resilient and persevering. :o</p>
<p>Well, thanks for the responses, everyone! No one else has to respond, though. I’m just going to let my family member figure things out (found a nice postbacc program at Cornell that allows admits with GPAs as low as 2.8) herself.</p>
<p>Thanks again! c:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Perhaps she should consider working for an employer who offers tuition benefits. If she could even get a clerical job at a university, most offer tuition remission to their employees.</p>
<p>I don’t think that it is financially feasible to try to go into a post bac program. Keep in mind, that she will not be eligible for financial aid other than loans. Unless she is looking to take on more private loans (highly unlikely she will get them with 100k of debt) this will be the only way that she can attend a post bac program.</p>
<p>In addition, there are some professional schools that will not accept you if you are not credit worthy because the majority of the aid for med/law school are in the form of loans. If you can’t get financing, you can’t attend.</p>
<p>The last thing she needs to do is remove herself from making money to do a post bac with the possibility of attending med school or even some other grad program, taking her out of the work place for the next 5 to 10 years.</p>
<p>
There is. It’s called part-time, night classes or on-line.</p>
<p>But before she does that, has she considered working with a head hunter? A resume service? Learning how to network? She may not be as “stuck” as she thinks.</p>
<p>And except for a few careers, a graduate degree is no guarantee of a more financially lucrative job.</p>
<p>All colleges that I know of, even community colleges, are going to require transcripts for someone who wants to enroll. My cc will waive the official transcript for one semester if the student is trying to enroll at the last minute and can’t get the transcript there in time (with decreasing state funding, we’ll take almost anyone with a pulse to get tuition revenue). However, a hold is put on the student record which prevents re-enrollment for future semesters until transcripts are provided, even for schools where a student may not have passed any classes. I have one current advisee who can’t enroll for next semester because he claims to be unable to pay the $56 needed to release his transcript from a different cc across the river. I don’t have any expertise in bankruptcy, but I wonder if the school is going to release a transcript for someone who owes them $10K.</p>
<p>At our CC, I believe all you have to do is produce a HS degree or GED and you’re able to enroll. There are some good CC programs where people can get certified to get pretty well-paid jobs. I’d advise her to talk with the CC in her area about programs available and whether she can get admitted even without transcripts. CCs tend to be lower priced and also some are on-line. Many expect their students to have jobs and are able to accommodate different schedules. There are paralegal programs, physical therapy assistant, nursing aid, medical technologists, etc.</p>
<p>Without making a judgment, let me see if I have Alexisss’ given facts straight-
Op’s subject took more school loans than was financially smart, got a college degree, went to a Christian school but is still a good person, had a child early though not financially smart to do so, has about 100k in school debt and about 10k in other debt and is getting tired of barely making ends meet, but wants others to forgive all her current debt so she can go for more schooling on loans(since she has no extra money to pay) so that eventually she can make more money without having to pay the debt on the previous loans. Op mentions nothing about a situation like this(taken from LivingTodayForward): "Most who file bankruptcy have experienced a major shift in their personal financial situation. This is often a job loss or a catastrophic event resulting in the financial realization of a risk (sickness, disability, flood, fire, etc.) that wasn’t insured or was underinsured. "
Those are the facts, correct?</p>
<p>The one fact that you left out of the summary is that most educational debt is NOT forgiven in bankruptcy, but that was not information provided by OP. Otherwise, it does sound like a pretty good summary of what OP has posted to date about the situation.</p>
<p>I didn’t leave that out, HIMom; I said: “…but wants others to forgive all her current debt…”
The subject Op is talking about does want all the debt forgiven.
A court might not discharge it, but that is a different issue.</p>
<p>OP didn’t care for the advice he or she was given and found all of us judgmental so nothing more to see here…might as well move on.<br>
I find that most people who want to declare bankruptcy or advise a friend or relative to declare don’t want to hear other options. They want agreement on the bankruptcy.</p>