student loans

Big Change in Graduate School Loans Flew Under the Radar

09/26/11

When Congress recently compromised on balancing the budget, it chose to “save” Pell grants for undergraduates by throwing Stafford Loan for graduate students under the bus. It is unclear why this particular horse trade was necessary, and I am not even saying it was the wrong thing to do, but I do think people who might care (law students, law professors) should at least know about the change.

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Brain-Injured Marines and For-Profit Colleges

09/23/11

Military personnel have long been targets of predatory creditors, going back to the moneylenders who followed the Roman legions. More recently, payday lenders clustered storefronts around military bases. The latest development is that subprime operators are hawking degrees at for-profit colleges to former and current service members.

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Some Debts That Bankruptcy Won’t Eliminate

09/20/11

The Limits of Bankruptcy Relief Under the right circumstances, filing for bankruptcy can provide great relief to a family or an individual struggling with debt. Assuming you qualify, chapter 7 bankruptcy can completely eliminate credit card debt, medical bills and afford an opportunity to get out from under a troubled mortgage. However, bankruptcy relief is [...]

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Student Loans: Until Death Do Us Part

08/13/11

It is not unusual in my practice to see student loan debts well in excess of $100,000 and clients that have minimal prospects for ever paying back the debt. Since the standard for discharge of these debts in bankruptcy is so high (see article below), often I find clients who have resigned themselves to owing [...]

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Befuddled by Student Loan Consolidation

08/03/11

It is a harsh reality of today’s post-collegiate environment – two-thirds of all students now graduate with burdensome debt that can follow for many years to come. Following a recent news story on CBS Evening News, a comment was made that a student CAN have their federal student loans discharged in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy [...]

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