Saturday, January 16, 2010

Drew's Student Loans

We recently found out the status of Drew's student loans. We have been anticipating this letter for 2 years, to know if we were forgiven of all his loan, part of it, or if we still owed all. Thankfully- all the state attorney generals came together and fought for the students, not just those with legal representation but ALL students who were enrolled at Silver State Helicopters at the time of the bankruptcy. We were grateful to find out that we were forgiven 75% of our loan and our interest rate has been greatly reduced. What a huge relief off our shoulders. There were conditions, like if you recieved 1 certification you were forgiven 60%, 2 certifications- 50% and so on...at the time Drew was trying to get his private pilot license we couldn't understand why he failed it (twice) and just 2 days after failing it (the second time) his school closed their doors. At the time we felt like we had gotten nothing out of his time and money spent at this school. (At least with a private license we figured he'd have something to show for all his work.) What a miracle to have had Drew not pass those, because now we owe less on his loans.

While the bankruptcy case was still going on, and the courts were undecided on a final decision, we decided to buy a house, taking our chances with what we would qualify for. (This is also the time I decided to start couponing, so we could cut back on all of our expenses.) We qualified for much more than we paid for our house but we knew in case we got hit with Drews loan, and owing all of it back we would need our payments to be at, or less than our rent was just to survive. We decided to look at homes outside of the city, in a much smaller city (considered rural) where we could get a bigger house for less money than the area where we were previously living. What a great blessing that has been as well. I truly feel like someone above is watching out for us, and because we bought a home (where our mortgage payments are less than our rent was) to prepare for the worst, we were given the best news. Ok- the best news would've been to be completely forgiven of his loan (like the students who took out loans through Citibank, but they only represented 100 students, Student Loan Express represented 1,000's) but we are completely satisfied with the end results.

I wanted everyone to know about this because people still ask us questions about it, and while you may still see it as not fair Drew did get about $30,000 worth of education (even though his loan was for $70,000) and we owe less than that now. So we are counting our blessings!

7 comments:

The Bunzells said...

Yay! Glad to hear that things are working out for you guys. I believe in miracles!

Heather said...

Oh April, I am so happy to hear the good news. I know the last several months have been REALLY stressful for you & I am thankful that you are now seeing & feeling all the blessings. I am so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father that looks out for us & blesses us even when it feels like, for a moment, that life is out to get us. We are all so blessed!

Momma_S said...

April I believe truly happy people can see the blessings even in tough times. I'm glad you're able to do this. Heavenly Father always has a plan:)

grannylaw said...

Great news April. I've been trying to follow the developments in the case but kept forgetting the name of school. Isn't it strange how things that seem bad at the moment, not passing the private pilot exam, turn out to be blessings later on. I always say that Heavenly Father knows the end from the beginning and we need to rely on Him. Thank you for reminding me of that lesson.

Robyn

Anonymous said...

Yay!! SO happy for y'all! Looks like 2010 is off to a good start. :)

Cindy Ardis said...

What an insightful message from such a young adult!! Life is all about learning, sometimes we forget that. I'm so grateful you received some wonderful blessings and recognize where they are coming from!! Proud of you. MOM

Habs said...

What a load off your shoulders. I have been wondering (as well as my mom) how things were coming along. I am so glad we have such a loving Heavenly Father who takes care of me and my extended family. Congrats on the new house!