Rochester, N.Y. – Andy is a typical college student, following his dreams going to college, while also racking up student loan debt - more than $60,000 of it. It's money he'll soon have to pay back.“It's hard when you build that debt up thinking you're doing the right thing,” said Andy.
Andy says he will find a way to pay his student loans, but for those graduates who can't pay, more and more are calling bankruptcy attorneys like Peter Scribner, hoping to get rid of their student loans.
“I don't have very much good news for them from bankruptcy perspective because it's almost impossible to get a discharge of students loans in bankruptcy,” said Scribner.
A discharge is granted in the case of hardship, but that can be difficult to prove.
“You have to be almost permanently disabled and unable to earn any living in the future to be able to qualify for the high standards for bankruptcy discharge,” Scribner said.
Scribner says you could file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, holding off the collection process for about three to four years while making some payments, but that does not make the loans go away.
He says the best solution is to avoid incurring loans from the start.
“Anyone going into college should look very clear-eyed at the economic value of the education they're going to get, and the likely income they're going to receive that will be sufficient to pay off any student loan burden they're getting," Scribner said.
That’s something R.I.T. is trying to make students more aware of.
TRiO student support services works with low income, disabled and first generation students.
They’re implementing a new program to help students become more aware of their financial responsibilities.
“It’s an awareness level, getting students to be aware about their personal finances, really understanding what it means to take on that much debt, what does that mean when you graduate, and how much is that going to impact your budget,” said TRiO director Bernadette Lynch.
As for students like Andy, who will graduate soon, he says he has no regrets but has this advice for other students: specialize.
“I feel a lot of money is wasted on liberal arts degrees which don't get anyone anywhere, whereas you can specialize in anything and go to trade school, you'd be way more employable,” said Andy.
