Posted on 07/15/2009 12:19:28 PM PDT by MplsSteve
If the bad economy has you thinking of taking on debt to go to grad school, consider the case of Mark Jesperson. The federal case.
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the 45-year-old Grand Marais man cannot escape more than $350,000 of student debt he piled up over more than a decade.
Jesperson had hoped to discharge the debt in bankruptcy and won the first couple rounds in court. But last week a three-judge panel reversed the lower courts' decision and said he must pay the money back.
While the dollar amount involved is unusual, experts say the latest ruling is not. It's extremely difficult to get rid of student loan debt, even through bankruptcy.
"The system's set up as such that most people -- people like myself -- cannot complete a professional degree without the help of student loans," Jesperson said. "Then, even if that profession doesn't work, even if things go wrong, there's no way out."
Jesperson has a law degree, but he's not putting it to much use these days -- except for representing himself early in his case. He works as a painter, and lives in a camper.
Struggles with alcohol brought him in and out of college; it took 11 years to complete his undergraduate degree.
He began law school at Hamline University School of Law in 1995, transferred to Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., in 1997 and got his degree in 2000, according to court documents.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
So, is this guy a never-do-well type who's just trying to avoid paying for his mistakes or does he have a legitimate out by claiming bankruptcy?
Comments or opinions - anyone?
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Sounds like he went to rich, private schools to get his JD and wants us the court to feel sorry for him because there are already too many stinking lawyers in this country.
He's a lawyer. Make him pay double!
You said — Comments or opinions - anyone?
—
Ummmm..., about the only thing I can say is that I used to live a couple of miles from Lewis and Clark Law School, when I was in Lake Oswego... :-)
A student loan is an investment in your future. It’s akin to any business that takes a financial risk to achieve a later return on that investment. This clown took a risk and screwed it up via alcohol. The fact that it took 11 years to complete his undergraduate degree says a lot!
I had always thought that if you could get a law degree (and pass the bar for your state(s), I suppose) you could _always_ find _something_ to do with it, even if it wasn’t high-dollar and fancy. Help others put together legal doucments, for example.
In all those years of “higher education” the guy never reached a point where he understood the term “LOAN?”
He’s saved that $350k already in court costs. Now he can pay it back.
One more thing...
Since he is a lawyer he should be given the option of paying back the $350K loan with interest or doing society a favor via a public hanging.
It took me six years to get through undergrad. But I had the VEAP behind me and I worked through school and summers on paid internships and other jobs. When I graduated, I had little money and TWO undergraduate degreesbut NO DEBT!
There’s a reason student loans are not dischargeable: they’re presumably used to acquire knowledge and skills and the lender can’t take back. Discharge would let him escape the loans while keeping the skills.
Maybe he should have considered whether he was learning anything useful before taking out $350,000 in loans. The lenders should probably have also considered this, since they’re not about to get this loan repaid even if he’s not allowed to discharge it.
...Or teach idiots how to spell ‘documents!’
My comment and opinion: he needs to go to work and pay his debt.
Shame on him for wasting that much of our money just to become a drunk and deadbeat.
Somehow, people ARE able to do so without running up $350,000 in money they can't pay back, you pathetic carbon blob.
Now buck up, there's a lot of houses that are gonna need to be painted in order to pay back the money you owe.
Bonehead.
An alcohol or drug problem naturally throws a monkey wrench into repayment plans and this guy should--no MUST--get into recovery and face his responsibilities.
On the other hand, if a person has a permanent disability (physical or mental--and alcoholism and drug abuse don't qualify), there is IIRC a mechanism for discharging student loans.
Unfortunate (or fortunately) for this dude, being a "neer-do-well" isn't a career option.
Yes. He racked up 350K in student loans over 11 years by living off the loans while partying.
This guy doubled down!
He never worked a day in his life until now. 11 years and $350,000 in school loans says he was taking the maximum amount to cover his living expenses. My kid just finished, went through 4 years,( all out of state btw)and has managed to accumulate all of $12000 in student loans. NO sympathy from me. AND this guy became a LAWYER, should have just taken a life insurance policy out on him and shot him to pay off the loans
tell him to sit tight because Obama has hidden provisions in his takeover of the student loan program that will forgive most of it at some future date
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