“Suicide or Canada?” Asks Student Debtor. I Recommend Canada!

Gary North - June 03, 2019

A man who took on $100,000 of student debt to attend law school flunked out. He now makes $20,000 a year. He cannot repay his loans. He says he is contemplating suicide or fleeing to Canada.

I recommend Canada. You can come back from Canada.

Here is his story.

I failed out of law school after 2.5 years. I accumulated $100k in student loan debt. Some of it is federal and some of it is private. I have no job in the legal field. I work in retail making less than $20k a year.

All of my student loans are in default. I filed bankruptcy last year which got rid of my credit card debt but the student loan debt remains. There is no way I will ever be able to pay this debt. I have no idea what I am supposed to do.

I have seriously considered immigrating to Canada to get away from it. That or suicide. I’m kidding about the suicide bit. Mostly.

He could also go before a judge and plead that he cannot pay. A judge might let him declare bankruptcy if he really has minimal income. It’s worth a try.

He flunked out late. It would have better if he had flunked out after the first semester.

About 50% of students who start college fail to graduate after 6 years. Those who flunk out or drop out late still owe on any debt. They may get jobs worse than a high school graduate has. A high school graduate got into the job market early. He did not waste time in college, running up debt.

The risk of not graduating is high. The risk of getting trapped by debt is also high. Both can be avoided, but students do not take advantage of the loopholes.

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Published on August 28, 2012. The original is here.