Carlos |
I’m just wondering why there’s no contact information for this site and why you don’t identify yourself?
Seems odd that you’d take this approach while hiding in the grass. I’m not here to flame you, just ask some questions. I can’t find a place to do that.
Hey Carlos, thanks for the comment. The question of why don’t I identify myself is simple. Student Loan Justice is pretty well documented as a group who is willing to go to great length to advance their agenda. While I certainly am not outwardly scared of Alan Collinge or any of the members, why deal with the hassle? I am just here to share my view as an opposition to what they stand for. I never actually had a problem with Alan until I found out his story, in his own words on a blog I found. It enraged me to think of how he wasted his opportunity, squandered his 3 degrees, and then had the balls to bitch and moan about the fact that he had to pay back his loans. I felt sick to my stomach, so I decided to dig a little and was rather sickened by what I read. So I figured I had the right to start a blog to share my opinions and I decided that I would do so anonymously because I like my life, I ultimately don’t really care what happens to SLJ, Alan, or “basic consumer protections” for student loans. It doesn’t impact my life that much because I have my loans and I intend to pay back every dollar.
I do really appreciate the comment, and I honestly didn’t start this blog to piss people off, I figured I might get some relatively intelligent and well thought out arguments as to why SLJ feels they deserve the right to declare bankruptcy on student loans. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Turns out that all they do is rant, threaten, insult, and whine.
So I continue mostly because it is a fun thing for me to do for a half hour a day….or week. I learned how to get my site ranked on Google and it has been a bit of an interesting learning experience for me. So please feel free to comment more, argue your case, and I really hope you are different than the rest.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Carlos // May 16, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Fair enough. Your site, your rules. I can live with that. I’ll do my best to be level-headed and actually make a point without useless flaming.
I’m trying to think of this logically, and I’m coming up stuck. Usually people will create an exposure site because they’ve taken a moral stance against something they feel to be wrong - and this is your stated purpose. However, you’re going after Alan, an individual. People normally attack individuals to piggyback on fame, as in the case of the guys who run the anti-Michael Moore websites. Obviously Alan is not rich nor famous, and he’s not a faceless corporation. Sure SLJ has some members who are pretty fanatical about their cause, who have already come after you with pitchforks and flaming torches, but they’re not everyone.
You say you’re not scared, but just don’t want the hassle. That argument doesn’t quite hold water. It’s hard for me to believe that you’re just average Joe Blow who just doesn’t want to identify himself. Because SLJ has had marginal exposure at best, it doesn’t make sense that you have no vested interest in seeing its founder discredited. Either that, or you’re amazingly bored. The reason I say that is because all your arguments against SLJ are already made by the loan companies and politicians. This is just a more personal attack.
Like I said, I’m not here to flame you, just understand your real intentions.
As for understanding why defaulted borrowers would want bankruptcy protection, I think that’s pretty simple. For those who have had a real nightmare with student loans, it seems a slap in the face to know that people can have hundreds of thousands in credit card debt discharged, but their student loans cannot. The people at SLJ just want to lead normal lives without the debilitating crush of student loans controlling them. If you’re not aware of just how bad it can be, you should read some horror stories at SLJ. Not just the bitching ones, but the ones who talk about genuine loss and suffering. People who can’t practice medicine anymore, people who have had all of their worldly possessions taken from them and are still considered in debt more than they could ever pay back, and people like me who tried everything to get the loan company to make some sort of arrangement while they were in financial hardship. Eventually I was told I should put up my son for adoption and get a second job.
I can understand if you take offense to lazy people who simply don’t want to pay back their loans, or people who seemed to have squandered their opportunities and now regret that verbally. However, there are people who have been genuinely screwed over and ruined by a system that seemingly wants you to default on your loans. Those companies have no compassion, but I would hope, as a human being, you do.
I’m genuinely happy for you if you can pay back your loans without hassle. I think the vast majority of us would love to be in the same position. I certainly would. Keep on it, because if you’re ever in a position where student loans go the bottom of the priority list, you’ll be in the same boat as the rest of us.
That’s all for now. I hope I haven’t come across a raving loon.
2 admin // May 19, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Carlos, very well said. I appreciate your views on this site and on student loans in general.
You are correct, I do think that bankrupting a student loan is a morally objectionable thing to do. Unlike other loans such as auto, home, and credit cards, there is no collateral tied to a student loan. It is money that is lent, in most cases at an extremely low interest rate, to give a person the opportunity to attend college, to work hard, to get a degree, and then most importantly to USE that degree to improve their life and make more money. This is precisely why I go after Alan Collinge. He is the worst offender I can think of. This guy received not 1, not 2, but 3 engineering degrees on the dime of whoever loaned him the money and then turned around and quit his job and moved to Alaska to cook. I started this site for the sole purpose of pointing this fact out to as many people as I could. If you Google Alan Collinge, he is quoted in all kinds of media as this savior for the struggling graduate, yet his true story (which happens to come up #1) is skimmed over. I truly do not want to piggyback anything that man has done or continues to do, I just want there to be another website which sheds a little more light on his actions which I find to be the ultimate example of an able bodied, well educated man who simply chose to turn his back on his responsibilities.
As for my connection to the industry and my motives, I don’t find it to be that important and I stand by my original statement that I really just don’t want the hassle from a Political Action Committee that I find to be a bit on the fanatical side. I will tell you this, I have a Bachelors degree in Science and Masters degree in Education. As stated previously, both were made possible through federal loans which I intend to pay back in full. Were I given the option of bankrupting them 10 years ago when I was young and relatively thoughtless, I can pretty much guarantee you I would have taken that option. I do not enjoy the monthly payment and it stings me when I realize what I spent some of that money doing, but regardless, it is a responsibility that I feel I need to live up to.
As for your suggestion to read some of the horror stories at SLJ, I have and many of them leave me feeling that something needs to be done to fix the system. I agree with you that a student loan, regardless of the amount, should never take away someones ability to live a comfortable life. Sickness, disability, and family issues can make payment difficult if not impossible, and this is where I believe improvements can be made. But once again, as far as I know, Alan Collinge never had any of those problems. His excuse is that 9/11 made it hard to find a job in his field. I’m sorry, but that is a truly pathetic reason to give up.
So again Carlos, thank you for your comments. I really do enjoy hearing the other side to the story. Especially when it is presented without insults, threats, or the outrageously defensive position that is so often the tone of the SLJ comments I have received in the past. Please continue to post if you’d like and I would be more than happy to publish something on my site in your name if you’d like to contribute that way.
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