The following are testimonials submitted to this site. To tell your story, please go here.

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Tim

I attended a school in Charlotte NC called Tech Train, it was and IT school. Well it shut down with out any notice... and I was only about 2 months in, and I had already taken out a student loan of $16,000.  I am back in school now at a four year school in Kentucky.  Sallie Mae is trying to get money from us, when I wasn't even able to finish my education.  We have a lawyer and are trying everything in a our power to get out of paying it.  They say we went to them and asked for the loan, and because of that it is my responsibility to pay it back.  Well we didn't go to them the school picked out several loan companies and Sallie Mae was at the time our best option.  They have harrased us, calling time after time one day they called my parents 27 times, knowing that I dont live there anymore.  We now owe well over 30,000 and I am still in school, and there is no way I am able to pay this.  I cannot declare bankruptcy, I have a wife and 2 kids, and that would kill everything of ours...including other things I owe, and have had cosigners help us with.  Is there anything I can do?

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Helen

I am so happy that I saw you on TV.  Now, I feel there may be some hope for me. My story is...

I attended the University of Kentucky.  I earned an undergraduate degree in Social Work, & a two graduate degrees,one in Social Work & the other in Education. Since I earned all these degree, I thought that I would get a good paying job, and have a wonderful career.  Needless to say, I owe student loans over $100,000, & I have a very low paying job making approximately $34,000 a year.  I am so stressed out about this debt, because I don't even earn enough money to pay my mortgage.  If I had any idea that attending school and earning a degree would cause this much hardship, I would have never gone!  I tried everything to get these loans forgiven, however no such luck. I work with disadvantage youth in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Kentucky.  The student loan people just keeps adding interest to the $100,000.  I don't see any way out, and I feel like I'm drowning in debt!

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Sarah

I  I have a very expensive BFA degree in a field that pays very little.  I believe that my college, The Savannah College of Art and Design is partly blame.  As I was searching for shools and future career paths they appealed to me the most.  Although their tuition was/is extremely expensive, $2,000 per 5 credit hours, they made me feel at ease with guaranteed job placement and financial aide.  They helped me get all of my loans together, maxing out the government loans and supplementing the remaining $15,000 plus per year to Private Loans through a lendor we all know and love Sallie Mae.  I was given no other options for financial assistance and now understand that my school who has NEVER attempted to assist me in my job search, was receiving kickbacks from Sallie Mae.  As if $2,000 a class isn't enough!

Straight out of school for the first two years, my father who had his own business was making my loan payments for me.  Both private and government, in exchange for my services.  His business has gone under and has not been able to assist me with this financial burden for almost 2 years.

I have a job in my field but make very little money.  $11 per hour actually and cannot afford to pay all of my loans.  I can afford to pay my government loans which were consolidated straight out of school and have always been paid in full on time in the amount of $200/mo.  I also pay on one private loan through Wells Fargo and have done so in full and on time since graduation in the amount of $100/mo. I have had to file forbearance consecutively for the past year, paying $50 fees for each loan, 3 total, equaling $150 every 6 mo. in addition to compiling interest to the principal amount.

Sallie Mae has/is not willing to work with me to obtain payment of any kind.  They won't even let me consolidate my loans into 1 loan due to my debt to income ratio.  A good portion of my debt being what I owe them.  Ironic?  By consolidating my loans, my payment might drop down enough to where I might be able to afford to send them something each month.  It appears that they would rather ruin my life than receive any money from me what so ever.  I called yesterday to file forbearance yet again, tried to pay them the fee, but they won't let me until I make a 1 month good faith payment.  If I had the money to make a payment I wouldn't need to be filing in the first place now would I?  This is the exact question I asked a representative on the phone and got absolutely no where!  One might think that 2 years of on time payments in full is a good expression of willingness to pay back on a debt.  Not to mention my excellent credit report.

I offered to pay what I could each and every month until I advanced in my job and career, but Sallie Mae denied the amount of $100/mo.  The least amount they will accept from me is close to $500/mo.  Which is still a form of forebearance where I would have to pay the rediculous fee per unconsolidated loan and only cover the interest.  If I could afford the $500/month, why not pay the extra $80 and pay it in full?

I'm scared to death that when I'm no longer able to file forebearance that I will have to file a Chapter 13.  By doing this, I will have no hopes of ever getting out from beneath this mound of debt.  The only thing I have saving me now is my credit and no they're trying to take that away from me too!    

I have every intention of making good on my debt and am doing so with the lendors that are working with me.  The situation I'm in is really embarassing and I hope that by telling my story, that future students will wise up and put their tuition on a credit card.  At least they're willing to work with you for repayment!

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Kathleen

I returned to college in 1994 as a non-traditional student (age46) to pursue my BS degree in Social Work and graduated in 1999 and then obtained my MSSW degree in 2000.  I consolidated my loans then because paying on each loan monthly would have been over $2500.00 monthly.  I was then in debt for $35,924.95.  Due to health reasons, I did not obtain work until April 2001.  My consolidated loan was put in deferment, however the interest kept accruing. The deferment expired 12/09/2003  and Direct Loans provided re-payment choices  Standard $670.57/mo or Extended $429.17/mo or $349.99/mo.  I attempted to make the payments, however supporting myself and having a gross income of 31,617.60 with Net Income of 22,761.79  (12/20/03), the payments were hard to make,  I put my loans in deferment once more, then made payments, but have difficulty managing payments along with basic household maintenance.  My loan id now in forbearance. As of 06/30/2006 my current balance is 58,942.00.  It just keeps getting higher and higher.  I did write House Representative Ed Whitfield, and he responded March 21, 2005 stating "With regard to H.R. 2505, this bill was introduced in the 108th Congress, which officially adjourned in December without taking action on this legislation."   I contacted Jim Bunning Unites States Senator, and he replied 11/02,2005 stating that "no legislation regarding Student loan fairness has been introduced in the Senate."   I wrote President Bush August 30, 2005 about student loan fairness which was forwarded to Marguerite A Murer Special assistant to the President who sent my inquiry to the Department of Education who of course only referred back to Higher Education Act.  NO HELP from anyone!!!

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Judy

I watched the 20/20 special on Sallie Mae student loan segment and never thought I would be at their mercy. See my circumstance was I was in a marriage with a 2.7M gross income and divorced and my ex has control over everything. I never thought I would reach out to a student loan company but here I am.

My daughter who is 20 yr old is 6 months shy of graduating from her 2 yr assoc degree. Here I am owing Sallie Mae 26K and not knowing what the hell to do. Do I go to the bank, financial planner, cash in my retirement?????????? HELP, that is what Sallie Mae loves, 20 min later after an on-line application I have a 20K debt with them.

Any suggestions? I have at least 1 million assets right now but nothing liquid, what is a parent to do?

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Galen

I live in Bowling Green, Ky. I have lived in Bowling Green since 1988 and I have worked in several different jobs since moving here. I have been plagued and have struggled for years in order to try to pay back my college loans. Since I am orignally from Memphis, Tenn., and later lived in North Mississippi, I went to the University of Mississippi "Ole Miss" in Oxford, Miss., from 1982-1987. I never did graduate because I did not pass the foreign language and math requirements for a liberal arts degree in print journalism with a minor in sociology. I was a learning disability student all through grammar school and junior and high school and should not have gone to a major university in the first place. Believe it or not, I made a 13 on the ACT and at the time Ole Miss required a 15. I petition to get in and they allow me to get in on my written petition and letters of remmendation from my high school principal and guidance counselor. Needless to say, I was tested in my fifth year at Ole Miss and it was proven that I did have a learning disability that was keeping me from passing those required courses. Also, I tried to get a waiver from the university in order to graduate without the foreign langauge and math requirements. But my request denied by the faculity senate. I finally gave up on graduating because I got married and my son had been born and it was time to go to work to support my family. So we moved to my wife's hometown of Russellville, Ky. We lived there six months and then moved to Bowling Green...30 miles away where we have lived ever since.

However, here's the beef with my college loans. Orignally, I basically borrowed $10,000 and in last twenty years, I have paid back about $12,000. I defaulted in the late 80's and I ended up paying two different attorneys in Mississippi for several years and money was taken from my father's estate in 1993 when he died. Of course, I have also made payments to different collection agencies throughout the years. Then about two or three years ago, I was able to somehow "magically" refinance my college loans and then the balance went up to $20,280. Then the loans winds up in the hands of Sallie Mae. Now, I get a letter from Sallie Mae about a week ago and they say I owe $42,798.90!!! I have been in deferrment for the past year. This is the craziest thing I have ever heard of. I had heard that 60 minutes did a story of Sallie Mae...so I looked it up on the internet tonight and this is where I found you guys. Is there anything I can do??? Is there anything you can do to!
help me???Yes, I would be willing to be interviewed anytime day or night. Just call or e-mail me. I think my story is very unique because of the learning disabilty angle. Somebody suggested during my last year of college when I was struggling to finish, that I should have sued Ole Miss for allowing me to continue to take classes and borrow money knowing that I probably would not able to get my degree in the first place because of the learning disabilty.
Thanks for reading my story. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Denise

I was a non-traditional student and received my BA at a university extension school in Southern Indiana. After graduation, I went on to earn to bachelors degrees at two universities in Louisville, KY. I needed these degrees in order to be able to teach my subject full time at the university level. Yet even with full time status, I earn only $34,000 a year and owe $120,000 in student loan debt. It seems that people who graduate from an in-state school and work in a service oriented, such as teaching or social work, should be allowed forgiveness on a major portion of their debt if state institutions demand such high levels of education for such low paying jobs. We deserve a break! I cannot pay off this loan, and do not make enough money to make substantial payments. How can schools charge so much for the education necessary to teach at their own campuses, then not pay a fair wage? The whole thing makes me angry.