Everyone knows the story about the hapless motorist who gets lost in rural Maine. When he finds a farmer and asks for directions, the farmer says, “You can’t get there from here.” The U.S. Department of Education must be staffed by Maine farmers. DOE has made it almost impossible for student-loan debtors to benefit from … Read more
The House of Representatives passed a $1.9 trillion relief bill a few days ago, and the legislation is now before the Senate. House Democrats inserted a provision that would modify an obscure statute that requires for-profit colleges to obtain at least 10 percent of their revenues from non-federal student aid. The purpose of the 90/10 … Read more
Top Democrats, led by Senators Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, are calling on President Joe Biden to forgive student-loan debt up to $50,000 per person. According to the plan’s proponents, $50,000 in debt relief would wipe out all college-loan debt for 36 million Americans. That would be an impressive achievement. Moreover, forgiving $50,000 in student … Read more
Late last year, the University of Vermont announced it will shut down two dozen academic programs with low enrollment. Geology, religion, and Asian studies are on the chopping block, along with several language programs–Greek, Latin, and German. At least three departments will close Religion, Classics, and Geology. Some minors are being eliminated–Theatre and Vermont Studies. … Read more
As reported by the Star Tribune a couple of weeks ago, the University of Minnesota will not accept new students into many of its liberal arts programs in the fall of 2021. The university is stopping admission in twelve programs, including history, political science, theater arts, and gender studies. New enrollments will be limited to … Read more
Our government’s Parent PLUS Program is an insidious scheme to lure low-income parents into taking out student loans so their kids can go to colleges they can’t afford. Insider Higher Ed’s Kery Murakami tells the story of Ewan Johnson, whose mother owes $150,000 in Parent PLUS loans–money she borrowed so her son could get a … Read more
Question: I am currently pursuing an adversary proceeding on student loans against the DOE, and Navient. I am a single father, and it appears they will argue at trial that they are entitled to my tax returns to use to pay towards my student loans. Do you know of any case law that says a … Read more
Seth Koeut was born in Cambodia and came to the United States as a child. Like many immigrants, he applied himself energetically to obtain a better life. He graduated 6th in his high school class and went on to earn two bachelor’s degrees from Duke University. Mr. Koeut then went to medical school and received … Read more
Even a blind acorn finds a pig occasionally, and Betsy DeVos’s Department of Education finally found a piggy: Grand Canyon University (GCU), which operated as a for-profit institution until 2018. Last year, DOE rejected GCU’s application for non-profit status. This surprised most people because Betsy DeVos is famous for coddling the for-profit college industry. Not … Read more
Between 2006 and 2015, Jamie Mudd took out 41 student loans to attend Heald College, a for-profit institution, and San Joaquin Delta College, a public institution. In 2015, she rolled these loans into two consolidated federal loans, totally about $72,000. Mudd put her student loans into an income-based repayment plan (IBRP) that established her monthly … Read more
Jill Stevenson enrolled at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2002. She completed 87 credit hours toward completing her degree, but she was “academically dismissed” because her GPA dropped in her last year of study. Stevenson took out student loans to pay for her legal education and entered an income-based repayment plan (IBRP) in 2006. … Read more
Jill Stevenson enrolled at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2002, but she never graduated. Although she completed 87 of the 90 credit hours she needed to get a law degree, she was academically dismissed because of her low GPA. Subsequently, Stevenson obtained work as a paralegal in New Mexico. Stevenson borrowed $90,000 to fund … Read more
In September 2020, Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glen slapped a huge contempt penalty on Great Lakes Educational Loan Servicers–$378,629.62! Why? Because Great Lakes repeatedly refused to comply with Judge Glen’s directives in a student-loan bankruptcy case. Leary v. Great Lakes Educational Loan Servicers: The facts In 2015, Sheldon Leary filed an adversary action in a New … Read more
In a report issued more than two years ago, the National Insitute on Retirement Security said that more than 100 million Americans had no retirement savings whatsoever. As Diane Oakley, NIRS executive director, observed: The facts and data are clear. Retirement is in peril for most working-class Americans . . . When all working individuals … Read more
As 2020 comes to a close, you may think 2021 will be a better year. And if you are among the top 1 percent Americans in terms of wealth and income, things look pretty rosy. But if you are a middle-class person, next year will be worse for you than in 2020. First of all, … Read more