My name is Danielle Hodge. I would like to share with you about my personal story and how my student loans have impacted my family. I would also like to address the practices being used, the tone of conversation, as well as how the actions of the president have impacted the state of student loans. I feel that it is imperative for me to share my story. If these things have affected me in this way I can only imagine how many thousands of others are also feeling the effects of the changes in the way student loans are being handled.
At 29 I found myself alone mothering 3 wonderful children after my husband suffered an inoperable brain aneurysm. There were many bills associated with the care for my husband and our loss. I moved into my parent’s home and took a job at a lumber mill. At that time I had outstanding student loans; I negotiate terms and began repayment. I made regular payments on my loan and we were able to move into a rental home. I continued to make regular payments on my loans and started to take occasional courses with the intention of completing a credentialing program over several years. Since I already held a BA it would be easy for me to work and complete the credentialing program over a few year.
Suddenly everything changed when I was injured in an accident at work. My right dominant hand was traumatically severed. Over a year I had several surgeries, and many hours of rehabilitation. I found at the end of it all that I was unable to continue my previous occupation. While in recovery I again moved into my parents’ home so they could assist me with the 3 children while I recovered from surgery. There were some things that I just could not do, for the short term, like bath my daughter, or change diapers. Workers comp paid someone to assist me for the short term, but I wanted my children to be assisted by family not a paid stranger. As soon as I realized that I would not be able to return to my previous occupation I began to take a full load of courses. I was hoping that by the time I finished my recovery from the accident, I would be ready to teach full time. Being unable to work I was forced to take out a student loan to cover my course costs.
Finally having completed the courses, I began testing, and student teaching, and I used all of my disability payments to support my family while I did so.
In the end I had over 40, 000 dollars in student loans. I was able to accept a position as soon as my credentialing program was complete. I worked for a year, completing a course and enrolling in the BTSA program. The enrolment is required for all new teachers in California. The college units cost me additional money, but I was able to pay it because my student loans remained in school deferment. At the end of the school year a group of teachers were let go due to declining enrolment. Unfortunately I was one of them. I then found another job, but had to relocate to a new area where there was a greater need for teachers. I worked another year, continuing the 2 year BTSA program and the 3 year education specialist level 2 programs. These are required by the state of California to be completed during the first years of teaching.
At the end of my the year I was pink slipped by my district. This would be the second year where I would not qualify for loan repayment programs because my employment was not continued. As an education specialist working with low income students if my employment would have continued I would have received loan repayments through the apple program.
I was lucky to again find another job working for a different school district. I was able to complete and receive a cleared general education teaching credential having completed the BTSA program, but I still needed to complete 3 courses required for the level 2 education specialist credential. Both are requirements for teaching in my field. Again at the end of the year I received a pink slip.
At that point I realized that I was in trouble, and understood with thousand of out of work teachers, and very few openings I was very unlikely to gain a teaching position for the next year. I took the time to sit down and work out the math and make a plan for how I was going to provide for my family without income for the year. I contacted the holder of my student loan. At this point my loans were just about to come into repayment, I could not afford to take anymore classes, and wells Fargo agreed to place my loans on deferment.
About 4 months later (still in the same school year that I found myself out of work) I started being contacted about my student loans. I received a letter and I made a phone call. The person on the other end of the line was very rude. She did not offer another solution other than to pay my student loan in full immediately; otherwise I would be charged a $12,000 penalty. When I explained the situation, and told her I was unable to do anything at this time, she questioned my finances, and suggested that I got myself into the negative financial situation because I chose to have children. She said that if I could not care for the children and meet my financial obligation I should find someone else to take the children. I have never been so offended in my life. I love my children and even though things did not work out happily ever after for me, I can still dream that they will have a happily ever after.
So here I am a hard working woman who has worked hard all of my life. I have supported myself, and my family. I have worked hard to improve my financial position. I do not own a home, and now owe 67,000 dollars in student loans, 42,000 in reasonable debt and 25,000 in overall penalties created by the lender and the government program implemented my Oboma.
After speaking to other people in the government loan collection program, and wells Fargo I found out that although wells Fargo was willing to continue with my terms of forbearance, my loan fell into a category that was taken over by the government program. I was within 3 thousand dollars of complete repayment on my original loans when I was injured and began to take out additional loans to cover my credentials program. If the existing loan is older than 2009 the government program takes over collections, with no offer or availability of payment postponement programs traditionally available for student loans.
This left me in a situation where they said pay in full or else. To someone like me who is out of work, and struggling to deal with the way the economic situation has affected employment, this is an unbelievable blow. A blow of this type could knock down the strongest personality, and the collection tactics were so outrageous that I would not be surprised if we see an increase in suicide across America. People who have put themselves out, worked hard, completed college, and now find they have not increased their future opportunities, but instead created a mountain of debt and have no way out. They have lost the potential that they once had in life. It creates a hopeless situation and a situation without hope is tragic indeed. The last straw in my case, as my children get older, I also get older. I find that the opportunity to be strong financially has been taken away from me by the changes in student loan policies. I do not see any way out. Not even bankruptcy would help ease my financial strain, student loans are not a debt that can be removed or negotiated with bankruptcy, and I do not hold a significant amount of additional debt. 800 dollars in credit card debt, and 3400 dollars left to pay off on my car. Yet now I know that I can quit working so hard, the potential for my future in gone…….I will make all sacrifices necessary to provide other options for my children, they will not be allowed to take out student loans. I have already lost my financial potential; I will not let them lose theirs. The hardest part for me is to not be a home owner. I was never willing to take the step of committing to a mortgage when I did not feel like we could make the financial commitment. I thought that I would finally be allowed the opportunity of home ownership as soon as I finished my credentials. To have a place to finish raising my children and provide a place where they could return to after college, they deserve from me what my parents gave me, a place where they would know they could always go no matter what. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13 boys all gaming together 
