Author Archive: sdc-admin

In a nutshell: I started at Bethany College in West Virginia back in 2003. In 2005/2006 I found myself in an abusive relationship that progressed and I ended up drugged, raped and found myself in the hospital for a week, where I was treated like a drug addict instead of a survivor. It was MY decision to finish what I started; I didn’t want him to continue to take from me and going back to school helped me heal faster. So I did finish at Bethany in 2009. During the course of that relationship however, and while I was in the hospital, all of my original loans defaulted and no one would work with my mother, who was also in shock and being told, “You better pay the doctor or we’ll stop giving your daughter the help she needs.” So the loans continued to pile up so that a hospital which did more harm than good could be paid for. Now I’m $90,000+ in debt, and I only make $1,400/year after paying every day bills, doctors, and the one collection agency that was nice enough to work with me. I’m not asking for all my student debt to be forgiven. I took out additional loans in 2007 to finish school on my own accord. But the loans that defaulted while I was in the middle of a violent relationship that I was lucky to get out of? Give myself and my family a break! We live with the aftermath of that situation every day. My mother told the collection agencies what was going on, but they looked at me like a number and not a person. They’re no better than the guy who beat me.