Grande graduated in 2007, briefly took jobs coaching baseball at Southern Regional and substituting as a teacher for special needs students, and then moved to Florida for an internship at a brokerage, paying off some of his college debt as he went along.Their son owed more than $81,000 in student loans from NJ Class, the state's college loan program. Like the snakes that they are, NJ Class sent the devastated parents a notice less than a year after their sons death stating, "We sympathize with you, but you co-signed for it. Our bondholders want their money." Even the devils at Sallie Mae waived Grande's federal loan debt after being sent a copy of his death certificate. But the monthly $685 bill from the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority kept coming.Two weeks before he was scheduled to take his Series 7 exam to become a stockbroker, he hit the back of a truck.
His parents said police haven't figured out what happened that night; they said toxicology reports came back negative. But they were left to pick up the pieces. Among them: What to do about the thousands of dollars in college loans that their son now can't repay.
"Although we are sympathetic to the difficult circumstances involved, under the terms of the bond indentures that finance the NJ Class loan program, HESAA is not permitted to forgive student loans as a result of the death of a borrower since the repayment of the NJ Class loans financed through the bond issues is how the debt service on these bonds is paid," said AnnMarie Bouse, a spokeswoman for the authority.Yes, student loans will haunt many of you for your entire life and your loved ones after you die. If you don't want to take this huge burden with you to your grave and risk passing this financial nightmare to your parents or spouse, do not take out these huge loans to get a worthless degree. I don't care what the mainstream media, Yahoo HotJobs, President Obama, or anyone else tells you about higher education. Nothing is worth gambling your life and family on a degree that doesn't guarantee a job and a wage big enough to pay off loans, some of which aren't even dischargeable in death.
Over the weekend in France, young people protested against raising the retirement age. Why can't young people in the U.S. get as angry about their generation owing hundreds of thousands in student debt or these state college loan programs making parents of deceased borrowers pay off these loans or not honoring contract promises to students? Have we become so demoralized, apathetic, and complacent that we can't demand more protection from the corporations who run our country and even our higher education system? When will more Americans say enough is enough?
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Wow this is shocking. Glad I read the fine print; both of my loans would be dischargeable in the event of my death. Would be nice to see a follow-up to this topic covering what other private loans are like this.
ReplyDeleteThat's disgusting - I hope the parents find a way not to pay.
ReplyDeleteIf you rack up gambling debts, or spend frivolously on kitchen cabinets, you can discharge these debts in bankruptcy. If you buy into the national mantra that has beaten into your brain since infancy, i.e. "Education is the key to your future", and try to improve yourself, you are dicked. NJ Class is a pile of excrement. Look for this turd to receive the TTR treatment shortly.
ReplyDeleteAs to your last point, I agree with George Carlin's analysis: Americans are so complacent because of their toys. Everybody wants a cell phone that massages their balls and whips up some pancakes. This sums it up well.
People in the US just do not care about each other. In the US, most people would rather identify with the rich politicians or corporations than have any unity with their fellow citizens. That is why the government can do whatever it wants.
ReplyDelete"Over the weekend in France, young people protested against raising the retirement age. Why can't young people in the U.S. get as angry about their generation owing hundreds of thousands in student debt or these state college loan programs making parents of deceased borrowers pay off these loans or not honoring contract promises to students? "
ReplyDeleteBecause we're idiots. Plain and simple. We are complete fucking idiots. Even when being over $200k in the red for education debt becomes the new normal for a good many graduates, idiots like us will continue thinking, "Hey, if I'm this badly screwed then it must be because the market decided it, so there's really nothing I can do about it!"
Please 0L's, take this seriously. This is not a way to live.
ReplyDeleteTo everyone: this cannot continue forever. I hope to God that students put the Nintendo down and start demanding a better deal.
http://firsttiertoilet.blogspot.com/2010/06/0ls-listen-to-your-elders.html
I refuse to cosign any student loan for my son or pay any college expenses. If he wants to go, he's going to have to work for it himself.
ReplyDeletedeclaring bankruptcy in death. priceless
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 9:34AM, I totally agree....that's how society becomes when individualism is indoctrinated into people, and "how to become a shark" or you'll be eaten like one mentality...
ReplyDeleteBecause Americans are fat, dumb, and lazy. We also enjoy too high a standard of living, even with $200K loans.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that. I also think Americans are too afraid to do anything (most, anyway). They're too busy eating McDonalds and watching "American Idol" to get off their butts & think.
ReplyDeleteI have a few ideas for spurring people to action:
1. Make the story resonate w/them. Show them that it could happen to THEM, their family, their kids.
2. If you don't currently have them, don't have kids. They're a trap to keeping people down & not protesting the BS that goes on even though you should be even angrier if you're a parent since what kind of world are you leaving for the kids?
3. Have them suffer a real loss or have a real problem. When you've got nothing to lose, you're far more likely to take real action & less likely to care what other people have to say or think about you.
4. You also need some big mouths who have no fear & that everyone can relate to, even if they say something that isn't PC or not everyone agrees with. It's better to be respected that liked & I think far too many people worry about being liked. You should be more concerned w/getting respect. An MLK or a Harvey Milk style figure would advance the issue much farther.
5. Polarization. The more people you involve, the better your chances of success. Consider all resources, form alliances, even deal w/people on the other side who might not side w/the fringe but are rooting for you. An "us vs. them" attitude doesn't help any cause.
As for this situation, I wonder how high up the parents have contacted. Go directly to the CEO, threaten press coverage, demand meetings w/congressional reps, take whatever drastic steps you have to. I take death seriously so you don't want to know what I'd do if it were me or one of my relatives.
I'm w/the Tea Party on the idea of spilling blood if necessary for a revolution. I think more people would be open to that if serious things happened in their own lives & they got those glimpses of the big picture; I also think some of you haven't had those yet or you'd be much nastier & more inventive.
The fact that you reference the corporate-created Tea Party as the boilerplate for a politial movement for real change goes a long way toward illustrating why Americans tolerate this kind of nonsense. What change does the Tea Party advocate spilling blood over? What actions do they want government to take (or not take)? They have no concrete agenda, because a concrete agenda would require more than demonizing one political party. It would mean actually threatening the system that created the Tea Party, which serves as an outlet for complaint without change, a "revolution" whose goal is not to displace those in power, but to further entrench them.
ReplyDeleteCorporate created? I guess it depends on which Tea Party you are speaking about. The problem with the Tea Party is that it is not a party. There are 15 seperate tea party groups in my county. They are all different. Stop spewing your left wing talking points and grow a brain.
ReplyDeleteAs long as the "Tea Party" and stories of 'making it' play out and american university students are complacent anti-intellectuals and Wii/ xbox and sport worship is the most important discussion of the day, there can never be another revolution in this country. Bread and circus worked once, it works still and the powers that be know it.
ReplyDeleteNow eat your soylent green.
"There are 15 seperate tea party groups in my county. They are all different."
ReplyDeleteAnd what are their 15 seperate (or collective) goals--or is asking a political movement to explain its purpose a "left wing talking point"?
All that bullshit about "spilling blood," and you know good and well that they aren't. going. to. do. shit. Spew that.
This is a sad story, but, really, his parents would have been liable had they co-signed for him on any other type of loan.
ReplyDeleteThe "spokesperson" doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about. Death of borrowers is factored in to pricing every student loan repack. The issue here is that the parents so-signed for the loan, thus they are the Borrowers. Their mistake.
ReplyDeleteI'm a class of 2010 undergraduate who, on literally the last possible day, turned down a half scholarship to a top 25 school. It was scary but I know I made the right choice. Just wanted to say thanks for the blog and to keep up the good work- there are some of us out there who listen.
ReplyDeleteI almost asked my mother to co-sign my loans, but because I had excellent credit at the time I went to law school, I decided to send the paperwork through without a co-signer and see if I would be approved on my own. Thank God I didn't drag my mother into debt with me.
ReplyDeleteAnybody who DOES use relatives as a co-signer on student loans should at least get a cheapie term life insurance policy and keep it until the loans are repaid.
@ 4:09. Interesting idea. In lieu of life insurance, however, the student loan issuers should be mandated to hedge every loan on their own dime. They do it anyway on the pool, but this way, when something like this happens, their hedge should pay them off and they then forgive the borrower. It'll increase rates but thats a trade off.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to have to start a political party. I'm tired of watching grandpa yell the news at me. It doesn't matter the network. O'Rielly has no volume control. Really. You're going with "The Factor." What the fuck is "The Factor"? I have no idea. Wolf gets up on all fours and pads around the table top in the Situation Room for a couple of hours a day. I defy you to watch that guy five nights a week and avoid developing a heavy tranquilizer dependency. And Olbermann, well, let's just say MSNBC and Fox have one thing in common: Both spend way too much time reporting on what is going on over at Fox. The fact is that I do really care what goes on in the retirement village we call Congress, and, to tell you the truth, there will sooner be Hoverround (Look it up if you need to. You know, use the Google.) reserved parking spaces in D.C. than there will be new legislation to deal with the outright fraud and abuse that is student lending. Over at Education Matters, Cryn has provided an update on the letter-writing campaign she has been advocating. But, you know, with all the lobbying money the student lenders are pouring into campaigns and advocacy, letter writing isn't going to get it done. Now, maybe if we send York Peppermint Patties we'll have some influence. Old people love those, and I think the lobbyists have left us an opening here. But, at some point, you just get tired of beating your head against the wall in a geriatric ward, and you fantasize about a different (read: forward-leaning) world. That leads to depression and long comments on blogs.
ReplyDeleteNow, if you'll excuse me. I'm going go thank my grandparents for being what they're best at. No, not irrationally attached to things like a TV newshour and a seat in Congress from which to prove that they're not exactly, you know, . But at being grandparents. They want to take me to Twitter's. It's been sometime since they last had a great burger and a shake. Plus, they want to ask me about the tubes. I just hope to God that this is another technology nomenclature misunderstanding.
Remember. In November. Vote for a young person for Congress. "Because grandpa has done enough already . . . We can't afford any more."
"No, not irrationally attached to things like a TV newshour and a seat in Congress from which to prove that they're not exactly, you know, ."
ReplyDeleteOh, sorry. I guess the end of that was intended as a madlib. Who cares.
Don't see how this is shocking or disgusting. Private funds were loaned to an individual with the promise of payment from a co-signer. The co-signer expressly promised to make payment and this promise was a material part of the decision to grant the loan. Since NJCLASS is a private loan, they don't have taxpayer funds to "waive" payment as the federal lender did (which was only shifting that payment onto the taxpayer).
ReplyDeleteSo, a lender is not considered a disgusting snake until after it loans out $81K on what turns out to be an empty promise from the co-signers.
Interesting one-sided opinion you all share. Of course, if you were on the people who purchased the bonds from which the funds were used to make the loans, I'm sure you would feel differently if you found your bond investment was at risk.
Time to see the whole picture people.
Yeah, but most cosigners cosign as a favor otherwise the kid can't go to school--I don't believe it was ever any cosigners intention to pay back the loans--the fact that loans are offered to "students", whom of which most don't have an income, yet to be disapproved unless you have a cosigner is a catchall...wake up...you are an idiot...and trust me, the interest they are making on the other million loans will make up for this single loan in less than 2 months--now who is the idiot?
Delete"I don't believe it was ever any cosigners intention to pay back the loans" ... Wow. Mindblowing. Pro-tip to people like this guy - don't consciously and contractually obligate yourself to paying a loan if you have no intention of following through. This brand of moronic money-borrowing is what willfully spiraled the US into an economic depression.
DeleteYou are an idiot if you think education isn't worth anything unless it's free. Ever tried living as the child of parents who didn't go to school? I live in a hole. I won't raise my children like that no matter how many loans it takes, so fuck you.
ReplyDeleteSECONDLY, you think us college kids don't care? Fuck yes we do. Does it matter that we care? No because every time a Democrat attempts to change anything in this country, all you nasty-ass Republicans out there shoot it down. The unholy massive amount of old people left over from the baby boomers don't want any type of government spending to help others: no socialism, remember? EXCEPT FOR MEDICARE OF COURSE!
Baby boomers fucked the economy. We're trying to fix it. The only way we can do that is sucking it up and working harder than any of you shit heads had to to go to school and get a job that pays us enough to even get into a position to help the economy.
Who are you to complain about our debt? Who are you to tell us what we should or shouldn't be willing to do to get what OUR education and make something of ourselves? If we all chose to live the way you apparently wanted us to, we'd end up in a box in New York City.
NJClass is a total scam of a loan company. When you call you are guaranteed to wait on hold for at least 30 minutes. They hide clauses in the promissory note that make your payments go higher and higher as time goes on. When you question them they are smug and obnoxious on the phone, almost like they can't wait for you to default so they can come after you and garnish wages. If only I understood what I was getting into when I was 17 years old, I would have never used them. STAY AWAY FROM NJCLASS.
ReplyDeleteI just spent the better part of an hour interrogating a representative of NJ Class. Their shitty website doesn't provide any information i.e. interest rates. You can't even change your address online!
ReplyDeleteSo I had to call in and it takes at *least* a half hour on any given day to speak with a live person and during that sad wait time they insist that you need to go to their website which as I said above is worthless garbage.
I got a hold of a woman named Bridgette who seemed to want to get me off the phone as quickly as possible even after acknowledging that I *had* to call her because it wasn't possible to get this information anywhere else. I asked about consolidation - of course HESAA can't do that so she provided me with a number for a private bank to buy these loans I have with them that total about $13,000.
I asked very detailed questions about the process and she began lecturing me about how this is "not that deep" and "like anything else in life." I can't believe this "service" from these people and they want me to pay them all this money. Fuck them. I'm sick and tired of these people getting away with walking on the little guys.
Everyone on here should check out the Occupy Student Debt movement. Finally this issue is getting the attention it deserves and it is an election year. Doesn't matter if you think you are right or left this is an issue for everyone to get on board with!
Thank you for this blog and letting me post!
NJCLASS loans employees tried to force me into bankruptcy without billing me!
ReplyDeleteI talked to an employee of this company and he said that he didn't think that I would be able to repay my loan and that their company would want to be the first to file in court to garnish my wages. After this they stopped sending me my bills. I called them and told them that I have a disability which I am treated for and that they would have to send me my bills otherwise I would have trouble remembering. They sent one and then did not send another for almost a year. I am lucky that all I do is save as they essentially tried to take advantage of my disability and force me into bankruptcy. I paid the whole amount I owed up to the current date but this is certainly against God to do something like this to someone in a bet that you will receive more money by using such a tactic. I am a college professor that is disabled, not stupid.
NJCLASS loans scam is calculated and predatory.
NJCLASS loans employees tried to force me into bankruptcy without billing me!
ReplyDeleteI talked to an employee of this company and he said that he didn't think that I would be able to repay my loan and that their company would want to be the first to file in court to garnish my wages. After this they stopped sending me my bills. I called them and told them that I have a disability which I am treated for and that they would have to send me my bills otherwise I would have trouble remembering. They sent one and then did not send another for almost a year. I am lucky that all I do is save as they essentially tried to take advantage of my disability and force me into bankruptcy. I paid the whole amount I owed up to the current date but this is certainly against God to do something like this to someone in a bet that you will receive more money by using such a tactic. I am a college professor that is disabled, not stupid.
NJCLASS loans scam is calculated and predatory.
Please sign this petition!! Spread the word! We need as many signatures as possible. Thank you!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.change.org/petitions/hesaa-reform-their-nj-class-loan
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post and I'm glad I'm not alone in my disgust for HESAA's dirty dealing (they were caught red-handed getting kick backs from Sallie Mae) and their flagrant disrespect for borrowers and their heavy handed collection tactics. I had enough so I started this blog http://hesaahell.blogspot.com/ where I'd like to collect all your stories and put these people on blast. That's just the start of it. It's time borrowers organized into a coherent and focused organization across the state to rid ourselves of these bloodsuckers. You can email me, Mark, at hesaahell@gmail.com
Hope to hear from you soon and remember, nothing will change unless we fight for it!