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BY KEVIN SAWYER – The state of New Jersey has demanded that Marcia DeOliveira-Longinetti pay off her son’s student loans even though he was murdered last year at the age of 23. New Jersey, like many states, has a student loan program in place but, unlike may states, it is almost impossible to get a loan excused.

After Marcia informed the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority of New Jersey that her son had been murdered and that she would like his student loans forgiven, she received back a letter from them that stated: “Please accept our condolences on your loss. 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.”

This is what many bankruptcy lawyers, and others, are seeing as a rise in, what bankruptcy lawyer Dan Frischberg has called, “state sanctioned loan sharking.”

New Jersey is, indeed, like the standard loan sharking operation. Death, incapacity, even homelessness, will not excuse the debt. They come after everyone with equal tenacity.

Marcia said that, “We’re not going to be poor because of this but every time I have to pay this it just seems so unfair.”

The debt repayment is $180 a month and Marcia has already made 18 of them. She still has 92 left to send in.

When the government, any government, decides you owe them, the threat of prison time is usually all of the leverage it needs. Most bureaucrats tend to be bullies so take what they do very seriously despite the effect it might have on some one. Recently, a New Jersey resident named Chris Gonzales has been battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He has become so sick that he lost a good job working for Goldman-Sachs. Even the federal government recognized his struggle and his current condition and forgave all of his federal loans. Not New Jersey, though. New Jersey not only sued Chris, but intercepted his state income tax refund that he desperately needs for day to day survival.

Several years ago, New Jersey substituted the federal loans it offered with state ones. New Jersey students had little choice or recourse. It’s loans exceed $350 million a year and the state is currently sitting on over $2 billion in debt that needs to be repaid. While many states forgive student loans if the student becomes disabled or dies, New Jersey takes another path.

It offers to sell life insurance to those who take out loans with them.

PHOTO CREDIT: Marcia DeOliveira-Longinetti