Competition for students can become very intense for schools as they seek to increase enrollment and the corresponding profits.  Some colleges and universities can be very unscrupulous in their efforts to facilitate financial aid in order to allow the potential student to afford the cost of attendance.  In short, sometimes they lie.

If this happened to you, but you got your education (and, more importantly, a job) anyway, then things may be fine.  But what if that lie resulted in your getting a useless degree or certification?  Or, what if you find out that the loans were issued despite the fact that you never applied for them?

How to Protect Your Rights After a False Certification of Student Loans

If this sounds like you, there may be a solution that does not involve bankruptcy. The U.S. Department of Education grants an administrative discharge of a student loan where a "false certification" has taken place. This is most often in situations where the school:

  • Certified a loan for a loan borrower who never graduated from high school or obtained a GED
  • Never gave the borrower an entrance exam, the borrower failed the entrance exam, of the entrance exam results were falsified or fixed 
  • Enrolled a student who was unable to meet the state minimum employment requirements for the job for which the program is intended (e.g. enrolling a blind student in a CDL course)
  • Forged or altered a loan note or a check endorsement
  • Committed identity theft or was the victim of it by a third party

This does not mean that there was a false certification just because you cannot get a job once you graduate or because you cannot repay your student loans. But if the deck was stacked against you from the beginning, you need to take action with the help of a New Jersey student loan lawyer.

Steven J. Richardson
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Bankruptcy, Collections, Student Loan, DUI and Traffic Court attorney in Woodbury, NJ.