He has been barred do to a a character problem - he hasn't paid on his 400,000 in student loan debt. Much of it accumulated in late fees and interest tacked through the years. The holder of his loans is Sallie Mae.

For those of you who have not been in this situation, if you are unable to pay your loans due to illness, there is no classification for this. You can get a financial hardship forbearance for a time, but it will run out and your interest will be capitalized. If you have a long term illness there is no bankruptcy option, that loan will likely remain with you until you die.

There just last year was a new program started that will let workers in public service have their loans forgiven in 10 years, as long as payments are made continually. The rest of us have that option in 25 or so. The government also has a new income adjusted payment plan that doesn't eat you alive in interest if you transfer your loans to them and can make the payments. It is the first of it's kind - ever. Student loans can be used as an excuse to garnish wages, take money from tax returns, even come out of your retirement. No forgiveness or bankruptcy option on them. This is the first plan that I have ever heard of.

I graduated in 1992 myself with 16,000 in debt, under Sallie Mae. Unable to find more than minimum wage work immediately, and facing illnesses myself, that amount is now almost 40,000, despite my meager attempts at payment over the years.

Now here is this man who has gotten through law school and they are preventing him from doing the very thing that could allow him to move forward and clear these debts? This is outrageous. Here is what they said:

But a group of five state appellate judges decided this spring that his student loans were too big and his efforts to repay them too meager for him to be a lawyer. “Applicant has not made any substantial payments on the loans,” the judges wrote in a terse decision and an unusual rejection of the committee’s recommendation. “Applicant has not presently established the character and general fitness requisite for an attorney and counselor-at-law.”

Story here:

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