Question:
Dear Steve,
I recently read one of your articles about IADT schools dated back around 2015-16. I also attended the Henderson, Nevada school from IADT from 2007-2010 and actually did graduate (did 4 years of classes in 3 years) but since then I barely got any career guidance from the school or any correspondence at all for that matter. When I did it was from me pushing to get any help and constantly being asked to re-send my resume and was getting leads from places 3-400 miles outside my area (Southern California/L.A. areas while living near San Jose, CA). And most of these horror stories I’ve been seeing have been started around the time I first started my attendance. After going through hundreds of job applications with literally one call-back, and in combination of seeing all the complaints IADT has received, I’m convinced my degree is worth actually LESS than the paper it’s printed on.
Once I graduated, I realized about 6 months in that I didn’t learn what I needed to and even decided to try other schools to fix my broken education. First I tried the UC system in California and was told that since I had a degree, I would not be able to attend unless it was in a different field and my passion has and will continue to be game design. The only other option was Academy of Art (yet another expensive school) But they told me that since I had a Bachelor’s, all I’d be able to take is the Master’s level classes. I debated but thought “maybe I’m just doubting my education and I do know enough” I went anyways and realized after two semesters that I did, in fact, know very little. So now I have my IADT loans and a year of Master’s level courses from AAU that I should’ve never been qualified to take but was forced to if I wanted to learn.
I would love to find any information on how to get these loans wiped out, even if possible the year of AAU loans I shouldn’t have been able to take. I’m currently paying about $700/month to all of these loans and I don’t even care if doing it means my degree is null and void….in fact I hope that it is then maybe I can deal with an actual UC system. I heard there was an Obama program that was supposed to allow this in July of 2017 but was blocked by Betsy Devoss not long before it was supposed to start but I don’t know the exact nature of the program or if I’m accurate.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I live in California and can use all the money back I can get.
Jeff
Answer:
Dear Jeff,
I believe the Obama program you are talking about is the Borrower Defense to Repayment solution. The Trump Administration is dragging their feet on this program and has put all applications in limbo. They want to rewrite the rules to make it harder if not impossible for students to get debt forgiven.
If these are federal student loans there is probably little you can do now to have these erased.
Tragically, most for-profit schools are responsible for the vast number of student loan defaults but the current administration seems hell bent on allowing these schools to remain in business and have access to federal student loans.
Assuming these are federal student loans you could elect to get a lower loan payment by opting to consolidate the loans into a new Direct Consolidation Loan and then opting for one of the income-driven repayment programs. While this will lower your monthly payment it will potentially lead to a higher balance when the debt is forgiven. See Why Income Based Student Loan Payments Can Be a Terrible Trap.
