>
>Right. Doesn't matter if you can't pay it and go bankrupt. They still have
>a legal right to the money. No negotiating or bargaining. In very rare
>cases, and I know of one, a women with a huge student loan had a major
>bipolar episodes, was put on disability and Social Security, and they
>finally accepted pennies on the dollar. Up until then though, no
>bargaining. At one point before this, they were taking about 40% of her
>(small) paycheck.
right, but don't forget about the idiots who failed to repay that could. there are reasons this has happened, the state's punitive approach, and they aren't merely be/c the US gubmint wants to be punitive for the hell of it, tho that is part of it. defaulting on your loan when you can repay it in some small amount is unacceptable because it's the rest of us who have to pay for those who default, yes? so, it's too bad the Jack Slack with a Phud in Area Studies isn't making a lot of money, but for a lot of folks in that situation it's because they are purposefully taking on jobs that pay low wages for some reason or another. so when Jack Slack puts it to the gov, he's putting it the people for whom there is now that much less money to pay for other programs that _aren't_ mainly for the middle class. if Jack Slack _is_ able bodied, he's contributing to the situation your friend finds herself in and the one i found myself in as a teenager.
no, it's not the best of all worlds, but i really can't see the use of encouraging people to default on a .gov loan--if that had been what they could have done. as it stands, of course, no one can really do that. as maureen mentioned, there are moral reasons, at least, for not defaulting if you're in the position to pay at least something back.
kelley