My partner and I are living in the U.S., she is a citizen and I am
not.  If we were to migrate to my home country (Australia), either
after she finishes school or sometime further in the future, what are
the options for her student loan repayments, she will have around
$150,000 in loans.  If she was to migrate to Australia permanently
what would it mean if she simply stopped payment of her loans? Would
this affect her re-entry in to the United States to visit her family?
or what would it mean for her if she decided to move back to the
States one day?

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Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 29 Jun 2006 21:52 PDT

Hello student_vaughanb-ga,

If your partner decides to migrate to Australia what will be her
immigrant status? Will she go as "a business person," "a skilled
person" or "a spouse, partner or fiancé?  It looks like we will have
to research what kind of background check will be conducted by
Australian immigration to see if they will care about her debts.

Next, we'll have to research the Australian credit reporting system to
see if they have a reciprocal agreement with US credit reporting
agencies. We'll need to find out if your partner can start with a
"clean slate" financially if she successfully immigrates to Australia.

If she allows her sizable loans to go into default she will have
serious credit problems in the US. How quickly the loan will go to
collection will depend on who made the loan and their procedures for
attempts at settlement before sending the loan for collection. There
is no doubt that if she stops paying her student loans her US credit
rating will deteriorate seriously and she will not be able to get
future credit cards or new loans if she decides to come back to the US
permanently. Defaulting on her loans will also likely lead to eventual
prosecution unless she works out something voluntarily.

We will also have to research whether her loan delinquency and bad
credit will likely be discovered if she returns to the US for short
family visits.

As you can see, the situation you've described is quite complex and
will require more time and effort to research than is appropriate for
the price you've set. I suggest that you either modify the scope of
your question or increase the price.

Good luck.

~ czh ~

There's this thing called karma that some people believe in.  Why
should she get a free ride at everybody else's expense?

Perhaps if you had experienced other countries and how they work
outside of the U.S. you may feel that the U.S. is providing education
at the expense of the students, charging prices for a similar program
as much as 15 times more than a similarly developed country with no
forseeable way to effectively pay off the debt without incurring
severe hardship.  No other country in the world profits from education
in the same way the U.S. does.   If you do not wish to answer the
question from your own moral grounds, then I appreciate your time but
not your questioning of mine, perhaps if you widened your horizons and
experienced the outside world you would feel the same way as I do.

"Providing education at the expense of the students"?  This makes no
sense.  Nobody forced her to go to college.  There are less expensive
options (state schools).  Colleges and universities are non-profit
institutions (with a few exceptions such as U. of Phoenix).  Do you
think professors work for free, the dorms build themselves, classrooms
are cleaned by elves at night?  It takes money to run a school.  The
U.S. system holds those who benefit (the students) financially
resposnsible.  There is need-based and merit-based aid for those who
deserve it.

Honestly, I respect the way you feel and your patriotism.  I would
however like to suggest to you and to the U.S. education system itself
(not like it is reading this) that education is a much more important
facet of life than covering the costs associated with administering
it.  While you are completely correct in your explanation regarding
the cost of running a school (which as a former controller of an
educational institution in Australia I assure you I COMPLETELY
understand) you will find that other countries treat their need to
educate and provide healthcare for their citizens as a requirement for
the prosperity, happiness and health of not only the citizens
themselves but the country as a whole, in other words they will take a
hit as far as "profit" is concerned (even if "profit" means covering
costs) to educate and further the lives of their citizens (instead of
waging wars around the world, when time and money may be better spent
in educating the country's masses or providing healthcare to those
that need it - which may even alleviate the problems that caused such
wars to have begun in the first place).  If you feel that the system
is fair in that it holds the people who benefit (the students)
financially responsible then I understand that and completely support
that theory, I would just like to point out that perhaps the country
itself would benefit even more than the students by having well
educated citizens to help move the country forward and as such should
share the financial costs in a comparative way (my University was
funded 80% by the government and 20% from student fees - which were
generally loaned to the students by the government with interest free
loans anyway).

I would also like to say that I have not said all this in order to
rationalise what I am thinking of doing (because I don't need anyone
elses justification), and I am not trying to convince you of my right
or wrong in asking the question in the first place.  I respect your
opinion and do not expect you to answer my question nor to criticize
it, I just thought that we may all learn something from thinking
outside the box and the information I have put forth in to the world
here was worth providing if someone benefits from reading it.

I agree that we should be spending money on education and healthcare
instead of wars, but money is limited (if the govt. just prints more
without good reason, that causes inflation), so choices and sacrifices
have to be made.  So, the govt. (or rather the taxpayers) pays for
everybody's education through the end of high school (except those who
choose to send their kids to private school).  If the govt. were to
fully pay for everybody's college, that would mean higher taxes for
everyone and that is not exactly a popular decision.  It does not fall
in line with the America's vision of itself.