After a great deal of recovery from permanent and total disability from MCS, in 1991, I took out student loans and enrolled in the Marriage, Family and Child Counseling program at a private university. I was so confident that I would succeed. I felt strong and enjoyed the course work. The reading was exorbitant, but I got good grades and kept up with my classmates. After a year, I got a sinus infection. This sinus infection did not go away for 2 years even after sinus surgery and taking a year off. After 2 more semesters at a state university, I realized that I could not continue. Instead of getting symptoms from the chemicals, I could not fight infection well. A virus turned to infection and the weakness and fatigue was so extreme that I could not continue.
The debt from this first year at the private university was reasonable, under $10,000 and less than 5% interest. After 10 years, what I owed had doubled. It was a thoroughly frustrating and time consuming battle to finally get my loans dismissed. I made 2 attempts at applying for dismissal of my student loan on the basis of total and permanent disability which failed. I was honest and explained how I was disabled, had gotten better, went back to school and had gotten worse. I appealed my case to the congressman and learned some important information. Because I was disabled at the time of taking out the loans, they would not waive the debt, even though my doctor had completed a form showing that my condition substantially deteriorated after going back to school. The date given for onset of deterioration was given as the date of my first loan. This date was a mistake, but my doctor cleared it up in a letter, saying that this date was given because this was when my exposures began. It stated that the patient was not aware that her condition had deteriorated for years after taking out the loans.
This was my last shot at getting the loans dismissed on the basis of permanent and total disability. Last year, I tried to find a lawyer but found none. It seems that lawyers will not assist if they do not specialize in your case. I'm sure specialization is ethical, but my pleas for help and their referrals were to no avail. This year, I tried a well known site: Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory http://www.lawyers.com/default.asp It was through these referrals that I found a lawyer that would help me. The lawyer that accepted my case, was referred from this list of lawyers. He was a county lawyer and worked pro bono. I learned from him that school is considered as work by Social Security. It would have been best if a doctor had declared me ready for a trial work/education period, before I began my course work. Doing this would have saved me a lot of trouble. He asked me to write a letter of appeal that outlined the following points: 1) According to Social Security Administration rules, I was only able to complete 7 continuous months of full time schooling. (The limit is 9 months before you are declared non-disabled.) 2) It would be great financial hardship to have my Social Security income garnished for these loans. My income was listed. Within two weeks, I received word that my loans were dismissed. I am very grateful to this lawyer, as I could not have gotten the dismissal without his help.
July 2002