An Empirical Assessment of Student Loan Discharges and the Undue Hardship Standard

86 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 495 (2012)

32 Pages Posted: 25 Jul 2011 Last revised: 25 Sep 2014

See all articles by Jason Iuliano

Jason Iuliano

University of Utah - S.J. Quinney College of Law

Date Written: July 24, 2011

Abstract

For years, academics have argued that the undue hardship standard for discharging student loans in bankruptcy is both unduly burdensome and applied in an inconsistent manner. By reviewing a nationwide sample of student loan bankruptcy disputes, this study shows that neither criticism is warranted. First, judges grant a hardship discharge to nearly forty percent of the debtors who seek one. Second, successful debtors differ from their unsuccessful counterparts in three important respects. They are (1) less likely to be employed, (2) more likely to have a medical hardship, and (3) more likely to have lower annual incomes the year before they filed for bankruptcy.

The real failing of the student loan discharge process is lack of participation by those in need. Incredibly, only 0.1 percent of student loan debtors who have filed for bankruptcy attempt to discharge their student loans. That statistic is even more surprising in light of this Article’s finding that a debtor does not need to hire an attorney to be successful. In fact, debtors without attorneys were just as likely to receive discharges as debtors with attorneys were. Ultimately, the low rate of filing shows that, although the system is broken, many of its flaws stem from a failing not previously discussed in the literature.

Keywords: Bankruptcy, Student Loans, Discharge, Undue Hardship

JEL Classification: H52, H81, I22

Suggested Citation

Iuliano, Jason, An Empirical Assessment of Student Loan Discharges and the Undue Hardship Standard (July 24, 2011). 86 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 495 (2012), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1894445 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1894445

Jason Iuliano (Contact Author)

University of Utah - S.J. Quinney College of Law ( email )

383 S. University Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0730
United States

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