Scholarship Prompt : The College Scholarship Contest

Say a student transferred from one college to another then attended graduate school. She could be getting bills from three or more lenders every month.

I was awarded the Drexel Liberty Scholarship in 2015, but today, while reflecting on my college career, I am more appreciative of your donation than ever before. The past couple of months have not been the easiest for my family and I, but thanks to your donation, my financial standing at Drexel was not an additional burden. Furthermore, this scholarship has given me the privilege to advanced my education in my dream school and enjoy the perks of being a Drexel student, such as co-op.

Another negative view concerning student loan debt repayment deals with the amount of loan debt that a borrower may accrue. With this new program in place, borrowers may feel free to borrow higher loan amounts, knowing that they will have a 25-year period for repayment (Redd). This puts a heavy burden on the lending institutions, as far as the debt structure is concerned, since the larger loan debt load will be harder to maintain that smaller ones.

Americans have amassed more than $1.3 trillion of student loan debt (Clements). A lot of graduates are postponing life events like having kids, buying a house, to deal with the debt. About 14% of student are in default. Default means failing to make payments on your loan as scheduled. Defaults usually results in larger loan balances. With this upcoming election, it 's crucial for candidates to address student loan debt and their solutions. As a potential voter, it’s important I select the candidate that will benefits me and get rid of my loan debt.

One of the most talked about solutions to the crisis is amending the bankruptcy code. The current bankruptcy code only allows for the discharging of student loans (federal or private) is if student loan payments will create “undue hardship” on the individual or the dependents of the individual (Mueller). At first, there doesn’t seem to be any problems with the bankruptcy code. Shouldn’t people only be able to declare bankruptcy on their student loans only if they are having a hard time paying? However, the words “undue

In the article “Is forgiving student loan debt a good idea” by Kayla Webley, a writer for Time, Webley feels that from a human standpoint forgiving student debt holds some appeal (2). Kayla Webley refers to Robert Applebaum who started a petition in 2009 with a petition of nearly 670,000 signatures. The comments from persons posting the petition are quoted as “guessing this will never happen but it can’t hurt to sign on” (1). Burdened with an estimated $88,000 in debt, Applebaum’s proposal is to provide a one-time bailout, of student loan debt-as a way to stimulate the still limp economy (2). Webley goes on to explain that such a plan has a problem. The problem being is that with an educational bailout most borrowers who can and should pay off their student loan would take this bailout, along with the students who really can not afford their loan payments and need the relief from their student loans. In Webley’s words “If forgiveness from a bailout was offered, who wouldn’t take the handout (3).

Those who aren't current on their repayments, almost by definition, need the additional help now, arguably even more than those who are current. Asking them to repay thousands of dollars on their student loans before they can even apply for this "help" is like a hospital telling a gunshot wound victim that he has to remove the bullet himself, before the hospital will consider whether to stop the bleeding.”

Thousands of students may have their student loan debt dismissed in court, because the original paper work was lost. Typically student loan payments start after the student graduates from college. Sometimes the student loan payments may start immediately, if the student drops out of school. Many students ultimately fall behind on their student loan payments. Students who fall behind on their payments are aggressively pursued by collection agents. Often students  have garnishments and liens filed against them by aggressive creditors. Many debt collectors file judgements in court, against students who refuse to pay back their student loans.

article, “The Myth of the Student Loan Crisis” is about how college students’ loans do not

40 million Americans owe about $1.2 trillion in student loan debts and roughly 16 percent of those loan balances are in forbearances alone (Delisle). To start with, forbearances allows borrowers to relinquish a delinquency status and postpone payments for up to three years. With that in mind, a majority of borrowers initially believe that forbearances are a good thing because it allows them to have a leeway before they can make their next payment. However, I believe that forbearances are just one of the underlying problems of the student loan industry because it creates the illusion of a safety net. The victims of the industry come from varying backgrounds and PBS highlighted them in the documentary, “Default: The Student Loan Documentary.” Perhaps the most daunting part of the video is that most of the borrowers shown in the documentary are still dealing with these debts for decades now. Some of these borrowers are usually a paycheck away from being homeless or starved and they cling to these benefits as a way to postpone further damage. In fact, what actually happens is that interests still accrue during the forbearance period and people end up having higher monthly payments than they did before the period. Forbearances are just a part of a very profitable system that prioritizes profits over the welfare of the students. It does not even seem to be helping at all because as of 2015, over 7 million Americans are in default for not sending payments. This is an

It is proven that taking out any loan in college reduce the student's experience in school (npr 2015). What's more interesting is that less than 20% who took out a loan felt that it was worth it ( npr 2015). In taking out loans you would need some time to pay them. The standard repayment plan for federal student loans is 10 year's (us news 2014). But “the average bachelor degree holder takes 21 years to pay off” (us news 2014), That is 11 more years than planned. Assuming that students went to college at the age of 19, they would be 44 years old when they finished paying back their student loans. And if they file for bankruptcy in that 21 year period, they still have to pay off those

The following is a rundown of the striking focuses given in Bankrupt Your Student Loans and Other Discharge Strategies?

Over the years, the process of declaring bankruptcy has become incredibly simple. Because of this change, the number of people declaring bankruptcy is at an all time high. Today, bankruptcy is a common thing among companies and individuals alike. The American bankruptcy law allows people to avoid paying their debts by offering the debtors a discharge without a harsh consequence. By not having repercussions for their actions, bankruptcy filers often plan future bankruptcies, allowing them to steal even more money from creditors with no punishment. There are 13 different chapters in the bankruptcy system with the principal chapters being 7,11, and 13. You can only file for bankruptcy under these three chapters, the others are there to

So what is bankruptcy? The Supreme Court defined it, as such, “[I]t gives to the honest but unfortunate debtor…a new opportunity in life and a clear field for future effort, unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of preexisting debt” (Local Loan Co. v. Hunt). Bankruptcy was designed to release debtors from their obligations to pay certain debts. It gives the impoverished a chance to attain relief from overwhelming medical debt, weighty credit card bills, and cancerous cash advances. In short, bankruptcy is a fresh start for debtors.

There are a lot of disadvantages of student loans. In “Pros and Cons of Consolidating Federal Student Loans”, written by Max Fay, Fay stated, “Some federal loans, notably Perkins Loans, have loan cancellation if you meet certain requirements. Those benefits could go away if you consolidate the loan.” In this statement, the author is trying to convey that students have some benefits, the benefits will go away. According to Fay, if the student takes a loan, it could take that student around 20-25 years to pay the loan off. In the article by Covert, Covert said, “This puts the burden of rising costs on them, which can sometimes be heavy. One in eight of those student borrowers is now in default.” In this quote, the author is trying to convey that students have a burden of high interest rates, and one in eight of those students are in a problem because of the high interest rates. This paragraph concludes that student loans have disadvantages and students are having a problem paying off the