How was this kid supposed to pay it off anyway?

You're supposed to become a perpetual cash cow for the banking industry. Apparently your milking can continue from beyond the grave.

The goal is perpetual debt; keeps the plebs working for cheap, and since our weird banking system considers debt an aset, it'swin-win for them.

money to you being assets? If you own a bond isn't it an asset? That's you having leant money to someone based on their promise to pay you back later, with interest. It's your asset!

"but really, you were a terrible parent for letting your child get a degree like that."

should come pre-packaged with cheap term life insurance on the student. Allow people to opt out of it if they sign a half dozen documents, but it's stupid not to have it just for cases like this.

Student loans that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy should never have a cosign feature ever.

The need to cosign a loan is a sign of the problem with the underlying asset securing the loan (the education). It is impossible to believe, unless this person is the Andrew Luck of RGIII of music performers, that the debt will ever be repaid. No more than a very modest income can be expected from someone who has gotten a music performance degree. Go to a state school for music performance unless you have the cash - I don't think that society should be expected to cover this expense for every budding music performer - you are talking about medical school numbers here for an undergraduate degree.

I've long said that if we approach student loans with at least half the caution that is used for a Small Business Administration loan, we wouldn't be making anywhere near as many of them as we do. The higher education industry, from Ivy League down to fly-by-night "tech" schools, has always been able to milk this cash cow, because our government has always provided the hay.

It's a rare enough occurrence for the cost to be quite low, and would save a lot of misery for grieving parents.

.. that you don't intend to pay back.

What is it about people that they don't understand simple contracts? He didn't think something like this could happen, but it did.

And also, my son will graduate from an Ivy League law school with less debt than that.

I feel sorry for a man who lost his son, that has to be crushing, but the debt it ridiculous from every angle.

why would the bank even allow this???

Very good advice, don't cosign on a loan you can't afford to pay back, and also banks need to be more careful of who they're lending to. Obviously they aren't going to be able to collect this amount. If I was this guy I'd just move to Canada I guess.

IIRC, the payment is 10% of what the parent makes in a year. So a gifted low income student can still afford that education if accepted.

10% would be significantly cheaper than our state college (assuming she does not get merit aid that is).

.... on the simple folly of thinking a music degree will ever result in the kind of income required to pay that kind of debt back.

If you are going for an art history degree and doing it on loans, you are in for a very difficult life.

People need to get realistic.

More from the article:

...One of Freddy’s student loans was canceled after his death without a problem: his federal loan. That’s because the government cancels student loans if a student dies.

But the bulk of Freddy’s loans were private student loans, which typically offer less favorable interest rates and fewer consumer protections. Only a few private student lenders offer debt discharges in the event of the borrower’s death, though public outcry over specific cases has swayed lenders to grant occasional death discharges.

But for the Reynosos, just figuring out whom to appeal to has been an exercise in futility. Working with a law firm, Francisco Reynoso sent copies of Freddy’s death certificate to any company that sent paperwork about the loans. He remembers being told by at least one company that they’d call him to work out a solution. But no one ever did, he said, and the bills kept coming — each time larger than the last with more interest, more late fees. ...

to just send out copies of death certificates, obviously to no effect? Looks like sharpies can see Francisco Reynoso coming when he's still around the corner.

the college got illegal money from the lender, the debt collectors aren't following federal law and sticking with calling the lawyers. My solution, a 300,000 fine for each call the debt collector makes to the family first fine goes to the family rest to the taxpayers.

not also provide a reasonable way to finance the program, meaning through use of its endowment\scholarship funds, tuition and fee waivers and work study.

I read the entire source article but could not find the total amount owed. Someone upthread (dkf) said $279,000. Where does that figure come from? If true, that is an outrageous indictment of Berklee and our society.

It would probably be because the debt collectors re-packaged that loan and multiplied whatever is owed.
As soon as an account goes delinquent for months, when the debt is sold to another company, the other company tends to make the debt far far larger than what was initially owed. It is pretty ridiculous.

He needs competent advice.

Bake