Consumer complaint received 2016-07-26
Company: Nelnet, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Can't repay my loan
Sub-issue: Can't decrease my monthly payments

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX I enrolled in classes at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Division. I took out student loans in order to get a XXXX. When discussing attending the school with the admissions advisor I was pressured to sign up as quickly as possible. I was offered a {$100.00} book voucher and waived application fee. I did not immediately cave in to the pressure, instead I took a couple of weeks to think things over and make sure I knew what I was getting into and making the right decision. 

Over those couple of weeks I was in contact with the admissions and financial aid advisors. I explained my financial situation ; married, XXXX XXXX XXXX, with a young child, a mortgage, lots of debt. I thought their job was to guide me through this process. I trusted them. I did n't know that I needed to mistrust everything they said as if they were a used car dealer. I told them I could only go back to school if I had no out of pocket expenses during the time I was attending school. Once I graduated and got a better job, then I could pay. But with my current bills and current low paying job there was no way I could afford anything out of pocket. 

I was assured I would pay nothing out of pocket. I enrolled. in late XXXX I began receiving bills for tuition. I sent the financial aid department many emails and placed many phone calls. All were ignored. It took months to get answers. Finally in XXXX XXXX I was told that I had hit the Federal Aggregate Loan Limit. That was my first time hearing that term. Apparently there was a limit to what could be borrowed, meaning that the initial advisors in XXXX were not truthful with me. I was told at this point that I would need to pay out of pocket or get personal loans. I attempted to get personal loans to finish the degree that I was about XXXX of the way through. I was denied by every bank I tried because I had too much student loan debt. I was forced to withdraw. 

I would 've never enrolled in the school had I known this information up front. Now I owe {$70000.00} for a degree I could n't even finish and I will never be able to pay that back. Due to this situation, I ended up with XXXX and was hospitalized twice, once for 1 day and another time for 3 days, due to severe anxiety attacks. I had to go on anti-depressants so I could function on a day to day basis. All because the XXXX XXXX lied to me to get me to enroll. I have {$70000.00} in student loan debt and have run up credit cards paying for the hospital stays, doctor visits, and prescriptions. I am so much worse off than I was before enrolling in college. 

I thought I was making a good choice for my life by choosing to go back to college. Now I see it as the worst decision of my life. I ruined my life. They ruined my life. So much for the American Dream. I have no faith in our government any more since it seems that the XXXX is complicit in allowing for-profit schools like XXXX XXXX and others to prey on students like me and use us to steal our Federal aid dollars.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation