In New Jersey Student Loan Program, Even Death May Not Bring a Reprieve

[discocrisco01]

canceling his subscriptions, credit cards and bank accounts; and arranging his burial in New Jersey.
And then there were the college loans.
When Ms. DeOliveira-Longinetti called about his federal loans, an administrator offered condolences and assured her the balance would be written off.
But she got a far different response from a New Jersey state agency that had also lent her son money.
“Please accept our condolences on your loss,” a letter from that agency, the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, said. “After careful consideration of the information you provided, the authority has determined that your request does not meet the threshold for loan forgiveness. Monthly bill statements will continue to be sent to you.”
Ms. DeOliveira-Longinetti, who co-signed on the loans, was shocked and confused. But her experience with the authority, which runs by far the largest state-based student loan program in the country, is hardly an isolated one, an investigation by ProPublica, in collaboration with The New York Times, found.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/nyregion/in-new-jersey-student-loan-program-even-death-may-not-bring-a-reprieve.html?ref=todayspaper

[merrily]

1. Sadly, that is what co-signing a loan means unless the documents say otherwise--and

how do you refuse to co-sign a student loan for your own child?

[RB TexLa]

2. A co-signer is 100% responsible for the debt

Everyone who signs a loan agreement is 100% responsible for that. If you don't understand the terms, ask before you sign agreeing to them.

[dumbcat]

3. I don't think they

teach that anymore. Too much of a downer for our little snowflakes.

When I was in high school that was taught in Home Economics, which was a required course. They really need to bring that back and teach some financial management principles to the kids before they hit the streets.