Bankruptcy

Student Loans: The Financial Shackles of Higher Education

By Bill McLeod, Esq.

Debtors with student loans have an often insurmountable burden in proving their loans are dischargeable in bankruptcy. Section 523(a)(8) requires them to show that the loans are an undue hardship and an example of how the definition of ?undue hardship? lacks any common sense can be found here. Lately, many bankruptcy attorneys I have spoken to have admitted that they question the disparity in the treatment that debtors with high mortgage debt receive versus those with high student loan debt.

In its February 2, 2009 issue, Forbes looks at the issue of what it calls ?The Great College Loan Hoax.?

Census figures show that college grads earn an average of $57,500 a year, which is 82% more than the $31,600 high school alumni make. Multiply the $25,900 difference by the 40 years the average person works and, sure enough, it comes to a tad over $1 million.

But anybody who has gotten a passing grade in statistics knows what's wrong with this line of argument. A correlation between B.A.s and incomes is not proof of cause and effect. It may reflect nothing more than the fact that the economy rewards smart people and smart people are likely to go to college. To cite the extreme and obvious example: Bill Gates is rich because he knows how to run a business, not because he matriculated at Harvard. Finishing his degree wouldn't have increased his income.

This (along with the rest of the article) is a refreshing read. I expect in the months and years to come, there will be more discussions over the trend of forcing students into a debt that is nearly impossible to shed (or for that matter, pay) while dangling the carrot of an education and with that, the promise of a better life.

According to the article, the average law school graduate will emerge with over $100,000 in student loan debt. Based on discussions with law students I have met, I do not believe that it is an inaccurate assessment. Law firms are laying off. The economy continues to sour. Jobs will be scarce - and I am meeting more and more recent graduates who find themselves forced (much like I did almost 18 years ago) to hang up a shingle and establish a practice. However, those realities will not be considered an undue hardship.

I?ll put it this way: it?s far easier to walk away (in any chapter of bankruptcy) from a few properties, a few mortgages, and hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in obligations, than it is to walk away from student loan debt. Yet the unlucky, unwise or unfortunate real estate investor likely has the benefit of the societal safety net that bankruptcy offers. It seems that there is less risk to entering into an ?exotic mortgage? than to get a degree in a subject area that might ? or might not ? have a job waiting for me after graduation. Something doesn?t seem right about that.

Full post as published by McLeod Law Offices on January 20, 2009 (boomark / email).