OCCUPY STUDENT DEBT

Student debtor stories submitted by the 99%

I attended Xavier University of Louisiana as a Biology Pre-Med student with dreams of becoming a doctor and multiple scholarships to pay my tuition. But that did not happen. I left the comfort of my home state to attend school at the #1 Historically Black College for placing students into med school. The out of state tuition was so high that I needed additional funds to pay my tuition or I would have to go home. Now, I think that that would have been better. It was suggested by the financial aid counselors that I take out a loan to cover the rest of my tuition. Even at 18, I was weary. I had always planned on being wealthy and debt free. But I was far from home and did not have parents or family who could help me financially. I took out a loan using my mother as the co-signer with Sallie Mae at a 6.0% interest rate. Every year, I had to take out loans to cover my interest. I had to use my grandmother as a co-signer on some. The loans that I could not use a co-signer for, I had an interest rate of 9.75%! When I graduated, I was already working. My pay was not enough to cover my living expenses, so I had to take out an additional private loan. I have had trouble finding work since I graduated. I have had nothing but bouts of unemployment and low pay. It is upsetting enough to desire success and hit wall after wall. What has made things worse is me, my mother and my grandmother constantly harassed by Sallie Mae. I have paid them multiple $150 forbearance fees only to have them call 5 times/day, weekends, holidays even early mornings. They have asked for my permission to call my cell phone and I have denied it only for them to call my mother 10 minutes later. Whenever I call them to try to work out arrangements, I am forced to speak to employees who try to demean me, threaten and remind me every 5 seconds that my $50,000 debt is now $113,000! I am now about a month away from defaulting on all of my loans and the only options they present to me ( and I am currently unemployed) are to pay $1450/month or enroll in a program in which I pay $800-but have to post date checks for that month for the entire year! What is even more upsetting is that I have never even had a credit card, I have always paid for cars, insurance, etc. up front to avoid being in debt. And now, my credit is wrecked-solely because of Sallie Mae. What Sallie Mae does is despicable, disgusting and immoral. I am glad that I am a strong person and have faith that things will get better, but I know that there are many that are not as strong. I hope that change comes soon.

I attended Xavier University of Louisiana as a Biology Pre-Med student with dreams of becoming a doctor and multiple scholarships to pay my tuition. But that did not happen. I left the comfort of my home state to attend school at the #1 Historically Black College for placing students into med school. The out of state tuition was so high that I needed additional funds to pay my tuition or I would have to go home. Now, I think that that would have been better.

It was suggested by the financial aid counselors that I take out a loan to cover the rest of my tuition. Even at 18, I was weary. I had always planned on being wealthy and debt free. But I was far from home and did not have parents or family who could help me financially. I took out a loan using my mother as the co-signer with Sallie Mae at a 6.0% interest rate. Every year, I had to take out loans to cover my interest. I had to use my grandmother as a co-signer on some. The loans that I could not use a co-signer for, I had an interest rate of 9.75%!
When I graduated, I was already working. My pay was not enough to cover my living expenses, so I had to take out an additional private loan. I have had trouble finding work since I graduated. I have had nothing but bouts of unemployment and low pay. It is upsetting enough to desire success and hit wall after wall. What has made things worse is me, my mother and my grandmother constantly harassed by Sallie Mae. I have paid them multiple $150 forbearance fees only to have them call 5 times/day, weekends, holidays even early mornings. They have asked for my permission to call my cell phone and I have denied it only for them to call my mother 10 minutes later. Whenever I call them to try to work out arrangements, I am forced to speak to employees who try to demean me, threaten and remind me every 5 seconds that my $50,000 debt is now $113,000!

I am now about a month away from defaulting on all of my loans and the only options they present to me ( and I am currently unemployed) are to pay $1450/month or enroll in a program in which I pay $800-but have to post date checks for that month for the entire year! What is even more upsetting is that I have never even had a credit card, I have always paid for cars, insurance, etc. up front to avoid being in debt. And now, my credit is wrecked-solely because of Sallie Mae.
What Sallie Mae does is despicable, disgusting and immoral. I am glad that I am a strong person and have faith that things will get better, but I know that there are many that are not as strong. I hope that change comes soon.

At 18, I wanted a career that would allow me to be creative, challenging, and still have a lot of fun. After chatting with several people including a college admissions advisor and my uncle among them, I’ve decided to go into Game Software Programming. It was a great field in designing games and what not and finally decided to attend Westwood College Online. This way I could work part time and still attend college and become independent now living on my own. In 2007, the advisor told me that the total program would cost $70,000 but not to worry because the average starting wage in the field was about $60,000 to $80,000; and at the time gas among other things (food, rent, etc) were much cheaper than now. I had decided to go ahead with this and enrolled in August of 2007, the first two years were great. In 2010, the college started sinking, good professors that were always there for me were nowhere to be found including my good advisors both financial and academic. Then lawsuits piled on the school and the college sent us letters saying it was all bullshit and they were getting them dismissed one by one. My third and final year came and the classes got to be sooo time consuming that along with my full-time job that I had earned in the spring of 2010, I just couldn’t keep up with the course load and the time it required so I asked to be switched to a different major, business administration specializing in financial management or accounting for short. The job I’m with is a seasonal lawn care company and struggled off and on working 12 to 14 hour days through the spring, summer, fall. I was able to catch up in the winter term somewhat but with all of the failing classes I was on warning and the end of the winter term that if I didn’t take 6 classes I’d be dismissed from the school. So I took 6 classes in the spring and I actually turn all of my focus to these classes and blew off work to stay afloat until week 7 of the 9 week term came. I had gotten such a discouraging message from the finance department of Westwood College Online that I thought would never happen. “You are not allowed any more sufficient funds since you have reached your maximum loan limits. Therefore, you will need to secure private funds to continue admission with Westwood College Online.” I had called everyone I knew with the college and was put on hold for hours. I called SallieMae to see what was going to happen and they said that they cannot say anything at this time because they weren’t allowed to. The term ended and my email and student login account was gone the day after it ended. I felt like someone used me for 4 years and racked up $78,000 in loans mixed between Federal and Private and another couple grand in Pell Grant and simply just kicked me out like that. I had moved back into my parent’s house out of the city an extra 30 minutes in drivetime to work to save some money on rent and start paying my small credit card debt I had used in the past. Finally got an email on my private account 6 months later (Oct ‘11 I believe) stating that SallieMae would be getting in contact with me to discuss loan payments. Of course this email came from an auto-no reply address and so I resent this letter to every email address in the finance department of Westwood College Online that I could get ahold of asking for more information. Nothing came, except for SallieMae’s phone calls and letters. I talked to the lady on the first phone call and she told me that I had to pay $800 a month, I counter-argued that the college told me it would be no more than $200 at most. We went back and forth for a few hours before she hung up on me. She called back the next day and I told her that I demanded to speak to her supervisor, she said she wasn’t obligated to and hung up on me again. The next day a man called back asking and I told him that I had spoken to a lady the last 2 days and that I cannot pay or afford $800 end of story. He told me that such person had called but left messages and had not actually spoke to me, I corrected him and asked for his name, he hung up. After being hung up on 3 times, I just watch and listen to these calls from SallieMae come through and has actually quite amused me that they are continuing to do so. I’ve managed to send emails about payments and only being able to pay a certain amount and they return an email in a .pdf format stored on their website which I still don’t understand because it’s a pain in the ass to get to. I’ve been laid off for the winter season of 2011 on Thanksgiving and have emailed SallieMae 5 times on how to get unemployment deferement or forbearance or on how to fix this situation. 5 times they’ve replied with the addresses of where I need to make my payment to and how to submit it. Finally for the 6th email, a guy named Robert had replied explaining the different things I can do in this situation. I did them all, requesting forbearance and unemployment deferment and also income base restriction. Amazingly they’ve done everything until July of ‘12 to all the other loans except for 2 private loans which I still have to pay. They still won’t say why those didn’t get approved. They’re still asking for $450 a month. I am 23 in April, $78k in loans and no degree whatsoever to show for it and Westwood College Online Credits have been denied by local area colleges. I have also been turned down from about 50 job applications since Thanksgiving. The lawncare job that laid me off, will start back up in March paying about $300 a week…

At 18, I wanted a career that would allow me to be creative, challenging, and still have a lot of fun. After chatting with several people including a college admissions advisor and my uncle among them, I’ve decided to go into Game Software Programming. It was a great field in designing games and what not and finally decided to attend Westwood College Online. This way I could work part time and still attend college and become independent now living on my own.

In 2007, the advisor told me that the total program would cost $70,000 but not to worry because the average starting wage in the field was about $60,000 to $80,000; and at the time gas among other things (food, rent, etc) were much cheaper than now. I had decided to go ahead with this and enrolled in August of 2007, the first two years were great. In 2010, the college started sinking, good professors that were always there for me were nowhere to be found including my good advisors both financial and academic. Then lawsuits piled on the school and the college sent us letters saying it was all bullshit and they were getting them dismissed one by one.

My third and final year came and the classes got to be sooo time consuming that along with my full-time job that I had earned in the spring of 2010, I just couldn’t keep up with the course load and the time it required so I asked to be switched to a different major, business administration specializing in financial management or accounting for short. The job I’m with is a seasonal lawn care company and struggled off and on working 12 to 14 hour days through the spring, summer, fall. I was able to catch up in the winter term somewhat but with all of the failing classes I was on warning and the end of the winter term that if I didn’t take 6 classes I’d be dismissed from the school. So I took 6 classes in the spring and I actually turn all of my focus to these classes and blew off work to stay afloat until week 7 of the 9 week term came. I had gotten such a discouraging message from the finance department of Westwood College Online that I thought would never happen. “You are not allowed any more sufficient funds since you have reached your maximum loan limits. Therefore, you will need to secure private funds to continue admission with Westwood College Online.” I had called everyone I knew with the college and was put on hold for hours. I called SallieMae to see what was going to happen and they said that they cannot say anything at this time because they weren’t allowed to.

The term ended and my email and student login account was gone the day after it ended. I felt like someone used me for 4 years and racked up $78,000 in loans mixed between Federal and Private and another couple grand in Pell Grant and simply just kicked me out like that. I had moved back into my parent’s house out of the city an extra 30 minutes in drivetime to work to save some money on rent and start paying my small credit card debt I had used in the past. Finally got an email on my private account 6 months later (Oct ‘11 I believe) stating that SallieMae would be getting in contact with me to discuss loan payments. Of course this email came from an auto-no reply address and so I resent this letter to every email address in the finance department of Westwood College Online that I could get ahold of asking for more information. Nothing came, except for SallieMae’s phone calls and letters. I talked to the lady on the first phone call and she told me that I had to pay $800 a month, I counter-argued that the college told me it would be no more than $200 at most. We went back and forth for a few hours before she hung up on me. She called back the next day and I told her that I demanded to speak to her supervisor, she said she wasn’t obligated to and hung up on me again. The next day a man called back asking and I told him that I had spoken to a lady the last 2 days and that I cannot pay or afford $800 end of story. He told me that such person had called but left messages and had not actually spoke to me, I corrected him and asked for his name, he hung up. After being hung up on 3 times, I just watch and listen to these calls from SallieMae come through and has actually quite amused me that they are continuing to do so.

I’ve managed to send emails about payments and only being able to pay a certain amount and they return an email in a .pdf format stored on their website which I still don’t understand because it’s a pain in the ass to get to. I’ve been laid off for the winter season of 2011 on Thanksgiving and have emailed SallieMae 5 times on how to get unemployment deferement or forbearance or on how to fix this situation. 5 times they’ve replied with the addresses of where I need to make my payment to and how to submit it. Finally for the 6th email, a guy named Robert had replied explaining the different things I can do in this situation. I did them all, requesting forbearance and unemployment deferment and also income base restriction. Amazingly they’ve done everything until July of ‘12 to all the other loans except for 2 private loans which I still have to pay. They still won’t say why those didn’t get approved. They’re still asking for $450 a month.

I am 23 in April, $78k in loans and no degree whatsoever to show for it and Westwood College Online Credits have been denied by local area colleges. I have also been turned down from about 50 job applications since Thanksgiving. The lawncare job that laid me off, will start back up in March paying about $300 a week…

“A year after I entered college, there was a time when four of us children were attending college simultaneously. My mother was recently diagnosed with colon cancer at the time but was still working and we were not eligible for financial aid. After she passed away, about three years into college, I finally became eligible for financial aid. Aside from access to loan amounts, credit card lenders were extremely aggressive towards approving credit lines for young college students. I found myself in severe debt within a year. I used financial aid to help pay for tuition and books but still found myself having to work at least two jobs at a time in order to make ends meet and afford to live in San Francisco near school, even with a roommate. Now, over 20 years later, and summers of college at the local community college, I am still about $20,000 in student loan debt, constantly having to re-enter forbearance status, year after year. The monthly bills are impossible to keep up with, after paying monthly living expenses, living in the bay area, unable to find a job where I can earn enough to offset these monthly expenses. I constantly feel like I’m playing “catch-up” and will never find a time when I can afford to get out of forbearance status. I am drowning in debt and just need some help to get some “footing.” I’ve worked extremely hard. I stayed in school. But it has not paid off.”

Sallie Mae’s 4 Star Outsourced Customer Service

I borrowed a total of $22,500 for law school. Law was not my first choice but I got a scholarship for part of the tuition. I got 7,500 each year for 3 years from 1990 to 1993.

By 2005 I had paid $44,860 to Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae says I still owe $62,400. I don’t know how this is possible. Or legal.

When I graduated in 1993, I believed I had 2 years grace period to repay my loan. I was told the loan was in forbearance and would stay the same.

However, in 1996, when I consolidated I was told that 9% interest, compounded quarterly, had been accruing since 1993, so my $22,500 turned into $42,600. I had no choice but to consolidate and start paying. School loans cannot be refinanced.

I have paid from 1996 to 2005. I became ill in 2005 and forbore the loan. I believed it was almost paid off and also I paid the interest for much of the time it was in forbearance.

But now in 2012 the paperwork shows I owe over $62,000. I am sick about this. I don’t believe I owe this. The loan was not supposed to accrue interest between 1993 and 1996—this is what I was told by the lenders when I took the loans.

I tried to talk to someone about this in December of 2011, but the customer service rep, located in the Philippines, was unhelpful except to tell me to pay $100 and that I could continue paying $100 a month.

When I went online to pay the $100 for January 2012, I saw, for the first time, my entire payment records. This is when I found I paid $44,860. (I did not realize it was that much).

Even though I have tried over the years to talk to someone about this loan, I get nowhere. Correspondence is also disregarded.

Is there anything I can do? Aside from pleading undue hardship in a bankruptcy filing?

Thank you,

Laura Odonnell

“A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated” -Horace Mann I am 44 years old and just finished my B.A. degree, I tried to go to school in my 20’s and 30’s but did it with the intention of not going into debt by working full time while in school. I always ended up dropping out because of the pressures and the fact that I realized I wasn’t getting an education. I would compensate for actual learning by just trying to pass the classes. I had no time to learn because I was always working. I had to ask the question, “did I want an education or a piece of paper that said I got an education” so I dropped out realizing that I was learning nothing. I am in my 40’s now and finally got my B.A. and intend to go to grad school. My fear of being an indentured slave to my debts kept me from pursuing my desire of education, is this true freedom? I am going in debt and have accepted this dilemma but avoided it for years and so avoided myself for years. “necessitous men are not free men” The intense debt we go into in order to get an education I feel keeps many from becoming educated. My story is the huge debt I will be in by the time I finish grad school. But also I have the story of avoiding my desire for education because of this fear of debt. I know many out there who are also in this dilemma. There is another story to this debt threat and that is those who stay uneducated, un-actualized, unfulfilled because of the threat of being in debt. Is this a free society? Do we want to live in a country that keeps us in fear of becoming educated? Getting my degree has been one of the greatest experiences of my life and it saddens me to think I almost denied myself this gift. I know of others who have denied themselves this gift and we can assume there are many others in the same situation. Is this freedom and equal opportunity? Education is not a commodity it is a gift we give to ourselves and to our society.

“A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated” -Horace Mann

I am 44 years old and just finished my B.A. degree, I tried to go to school in my 20’s and 30’s but did it with the intention of not going into debt by working full time while in school. I always ended up dropping out because of the pressures and the fact that I realized I wasn’t getting an education. I would compensate for actual learning by just trying to pass the classes. I had no time to learn because I was always working. I had to ask the question, “did I want an education or a piece of paper that said I got an education” so I dropped out realizing that I was learning nothing. I am in my 40’s now and finally got my B.A. and intend to go to grad school. My fear of being an indentured slave to my debts kept me from pursuing my desire of education, is this true freedom? I am going in debt and have accepted this dilemma but avoided it for years and so avoided myself for years.

“necessitous men are not free men”

The intense debt we go into in order to get an education I feel keeps many from becoming educated. My story is the huge debt I will be in by the time I finish grad school. But also I have the story of avoiding my desire for education because of this fear of debt. I know many out there who are also in this dilemma. There is another story to this debt threat and that is those who stay uneducated, un-actualized, unfulfilled because of the threat of being in debt. Is this a free society? Do we want to live in a country that keeps us in fear of becoming educated? Getting my degree has been one of the greatest experiences of my life and it saddens me to think I almost denied myself this gift. I know of others who have denied themselves this gift and we can assume there are many others in the same situation.

Is this freedom and equal opportunity? Education is not a commodity it is a gift we give to ourselves and to our society.