Sometimes the best you can hope for is to serve as a warning to others. Seriously. You are in an extreme situation, but one that many people find themselves i

Sometimes the best you can hope for is to serve as a warning to others. Seriously. You are in an extreme situation, but one that many people find themselves in at various levels of severity and many more fear. This presents a unique opportunity for you. It will take a LOT of work and dedication but it will serve the greater good and might even help dig you out of your hole: Tell your story. You are here on HN so you seem like you don't mind sharing. Kids in high school need to hear this story: go speak to them in assembly. I am sure if you made a few phone calls to counselors, they'd welcome you with open arms. You might not get paid (but, hell, you might) but you'd be doing a service to those kids. Blog about it. Cliche, I know but do it. Start now. You have gotten to the front page of HN. That is something but the clock is ticking starting 14 minutes ago. What will you blog about? First, everything that has happened up till now regarding this. Your background; how you went to school; your hopes; the ease of it all; the nightmare of realizing what was really going to happen. All of it. Give an abstract and start chronologically in very human detail. Keep reminding people where you are going with all of it. In the meantime, try to do something about it. Chronicle EVERYTHING. Keep records. Post your struggle as it happens. Contact the debt holder. Contact your school. Contact support groups. Contact alumni. Contact your representatives. What do they say? What do they do? What /can/ they do? If you can manage it, try to really do it in a thorough style. Perhaps you can get a hold of someone to bring it all together in a documentary. That can be powerful. Maybe not a blockbuster but if done well it could bring awareness and maybe some recognition. Perhaps you could sell it to schools for future college students to watch. At some point in this process try to get a hold of others in the same boat or that are otherwise affected. Some that, perhaps, got lucky and paid it off. Some that never did. Maybe some that took the ultimate way out. Some that tried stuff that you'd never thought of to get out of it. Add that material to your blog and film. Keep moving. Perhaps dig into the industry. Follow the money. Who benefits? By how much? How did these 'student loans are immune to bankruptcy' laws pass? When did they come about? Did it impact overall borrowing rates? Talk to economists, lobbyists, industry folks, the boots on the ground in terms of debt collectors etc, etc. Find people who did it right. Find out how they did it. Include all of this in your material... Once you have explored this from all angles and made a bit of a name, maybe you could write a good book about it. Go on some talk shows. Who knows. If you do it right, I know I'd follow your progress. Good luck. Edit: I forgot the point: doing all of this is valuable. Reap some of that value and somewhere down the road you might find that you can get out of this hole. It won't be easy by a long shot, but, hell, what have you got to lose?