Consumer complaint received 2024-10-04
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Problem with forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge
Company: MOHELA (WA)

I enrolled at XXXX XXXX  XXXX in XXXX of XXXX. I was given a document to sign that stated my entire cost for a XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX would be {$36000.00}. I was not given a copy of this document for my own records. I was also told there would be employment assistance after graduation and that the university would set me up with a location to do my required practicum and internship. The program was supposed to take 2 years if you chose to do your internship and practicum at the same time as your regular coursework, or 3 years if you chose to just do your internship and practicum after you had finished your regular coursework for the degree. I opted for the 2 year plan and using the list of locations that were approved for internships, I started applying at the end of my first year and was accepted to begin my unpaid internship in XXXX of XXXX. 
I knew right away that something wasn't right about my internship location. I wasn't going to be doing any XXXX  sessions with clients, which is something required of any internship. I knew I was required to have XXXX hours of face-to-face XXXX  with clients in order to graduate. I started right away trying to get answers from the faculty at XXXX and was repeatedly brushed off. Finally, after XXXX weeks had gone by and it was too late to switch to a different site, I was told by my faculty advisor that the site I was at was not going to work for my internship. This meant that I had wasted XXXX weeks providing unpaid labor to a XXXX XXXX XXXX  and now I was going to have to wait another year to do my internship. I never go any answers as to how or why my site was approved. It really seems that the staff and faculty at XXXX intentionally delayed giving me an answer or helping me at all so they could get an additional year of tuition out of me. 
The following year, I did not get matched with ANY sites and XXXX didn't help me at all. I ended up having to take all the available elective courses over the course of my third year at XXXX so that I wouldn't have to start paying on my student loans. I was only working part-time and couldn't afford the extra payment. 
Finally, I got an internship lined up for the fourth year. By this point, I was at the maximum allowed federal student loans for graduate school- {$100000.00}. At least, that's what XXXX financial aid staff told me. I have no idea if that's true. I would have quit long before this point, but I couldn't imagine having over {$100000.00} in student loan debt and no degree, so I kept plugging on. 
When I finally graduated in XXXX of XXXX, I was then hounded for months by XXXX because they wanted me to fill out a survey telling them how much I was making at my job. I refused because at this point ( and for a XXXX XXXX XXXX ), I was working at the same job I had when I enrolled. I wasn't going to let XXXX use that to lie to more people to entice them into enrolling! Every bit of success I have had in my career since graduating has been due to my own hard work and IN SPITE of XXXX! I went to class in the same building as people at the XXXX XXXX and both schools were owned by the same company. If the XXXX XXXX qualifies for loan forgiveness, then XXXX should too. I am XXXX XXXX XXXX and despite paying diligently on my loans for 11 years, I still owe {$100000.00}. 
On XX/XX/XXXX the XXXX XXXX  borrowers sent the Department of Education XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX, XXXX Lies : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX Defrauded a Generation of Students and the Federal Government that detailed copious evidence collected by XXXX borrowers themselves. The evidence comes from lawsuits, settlements, congressional testimony, and federal investigations. Furthermore, our letter to the Secretary of Education cosigned by XXXX organizations including the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX students, faculty and staff collectively recommends the broad cancellation of all XXXX XXXX  loans. 
I am filing a complaint for the Department of Education to take notice that the borrowers deserve to be made whole from a governmental system of oversight that has failed them.