Educationally Screwed: Two Generations of Predatory Student Loan Fraud and Its Consequences

By Dr. Debra K. Lynch

I worked hard,
I believed in the American Dream,
I pulled myself up by my bootstraps,
I paid over $70,000 on my student loan debt,
and still
I was EDUCATIONALLY SCREWED!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481754354

Dr. Debra K. Lynch

Dr. Debra Lynch graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Science from the college of Human Development and Performance. Upon graduation she was awarded ‘Student Teacher of the Year’, the award of which she is extremely proud. She developed her interest in medicine while studying classes in anatomy, physiology, microbiology and organic chemistry. Five years after graduating from the University of Oregon Dr. Lynch decided to follow her desire to help people through medicine. She chose Podiatric Medicine as her specialty because of its relationship to her undergraduate degree in helping people in their nutritional and movement development. Dr. Lynch graduated from the California College of Podiatry Medicine and earned a surgical residency. Debra returned to Portland, Oregon to practice medicine and continues to live in beautiful Oregon with her thirteen year old Chesapeake Bay retriever, “Harley”.

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© 2013 by Dr. Debra K. Lynch. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/31/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-5436-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-5435-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013909342

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

1 Educationally Screwed

2 Medical School Interviews

3 Load up the Rental-Truck

4 Study Study Study Stress Stress Stress

5 Bay Series Shake Up

6 Six Toes

7 Scut Monkey

8 Jail House Doc

9 Full Moon Fever

10 Blind Sided

11 Legalized Loan Sharking

12 Dirty Hands in the Predatory Student Loan Jungle

Letter from Co-Worker

References

To My Mother for Her Enduring Love

and Encouragement

In Pursuit of my Educational Dreams

I worked hard,

I believed in the American Dream,

I pulled myself up by my bootstraps,

I paid over $70,000 on my student loan debt, and still

I was EDUCATIONALLY SCREWED!

Dr. Lynch’s book exposes the corruption in the Department of Education (DOE) and the private student loan servicing corporation Sallie Mae (SM) during the G.W Bush administration which released the agency and SM from oversight and regulation. As a result of this well documented fraud on the college students of the United States student loan debt currently is greater than credit card debt, approximately 1 trillion dollars, and is predicted to be the next stock market bubble. In 2009 the DOE reported that 3.6 million students began payments on their student loans and within 2 years 8.8% of these students have defaulted.

Dr. Lynch will take the reader through the twenty years of education, hard work and sacrifice it took to become a surgeon. She tells the story of her family of seven children and pink collar working parents where money was tight and higher education was highly valued and encouraged. During her medical education and training Dr. Lynch keeps the reader on the edge of their seat with her honest and witty stories. The last two chapters of the book takes the reader into the seedy world of the student loan scam on America’s students—just as devastating in 2012 as in 2001 when Dr. Lynch’s nightmare began. Not only were the DOE and SM the major players in the scam but well-known members of congress such as Congressional Majority Leader Senator John Boehner (R,Oh), Howard Buck McKeon (R, Ca), Mike Enzi (R, Wy) Wall Street and the Universities and Colleges.

When Dr. Lynch requested to double her student loan payments that she had previously consolidated with Sallie Mae she brings the reader into the nightmare that began the end of her surgical career. She had never missed/was late/or short on the payments. Eight years after graduating from medical school she was finally doing well enough financially to double her payments—she had already paid $70,000 on her debt.

She contacted Sallie Mae to make these arrangements but instead SM placed her into default knowing by doing so they would make more money from her loan than to fully service it as contracted. Because the Department of Health and Humans Services (DHHS) places draconian penalties on student loan borrower’s who default on their loans and the Department of Justice enforces them, Dr Lynch lost 2 successful surgical practices, house, reputation, good credit, 8 year relationship and her ability to find employment even 11 years later.

Dr. Lynch’s story is not unique. It was then and still is the dirty little secret on the hill. However this time it’s become an economic bubble about to explode.

Dr. Lynch who is 52 years old must live with her 81 year old mother who provides for all of her financial needs.

Dr. Lynch has volunteered at free health clinics as a physician since she finished her surgical residency in 1994, because she believes health care is a basic human right-not a privilege. Recently the non-profit free health clinic that was established in 2008 where Dr. Lynch volunteered was closed when it’s funding was lost. Dr. Lynch states that she will find another free clinic to volunteer at-its simply caring for your fellow human being.

1

Educationally Screwed

Nick and I were playing golf and drinking beer on a sunny summer day. We thought it was great to be able to play golf in the middle of the week instead of having to fight the crowds on the weekends. We were playing at a beautiful green course in Boring where the first tee faces Mt. Hood. On this particular day the sky was blue, without the usual gray early summer overcast, and snow hadn’t yet melted off the mountain. Nick was stooped down on the green with his putter perfectly vertical, lining his ball up with the putter and the first hole when he said that only doctors and Presidents have such cushy schedules. So I’ll just have to become a doctor then. After all, repairing and rebuilding restaurant coffee machines doesn’t exactly thrill me—no advancement. Although the union wage and bennies were good, the brainless repetition and clock punching was killing me. Oh, but little brother had to go and say it. Ya right Alex, medical school for four years, residency too! Somehow I don’t see you going back to school.

Oh really, and why is that?

Because you hated college and said you would never crack open another text book the rest of your life.

That was true but I had managed to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in health education at the University of Oregon. That was then, this is now. Just think, ten years from now I’ll have a weekly Wednesday golf date. I might even invite you to join me.

I was now gripping my number one driver tightly staring at the ball as I slowly and deliberately swung the club back and then forward swinging hard, steady and fast. The ball sailed down the middle of the fairway and rolled to a stop 190 yards away. Nick just shook his head and laughed. If you approach medical school like you do golfing, Lord help anyone who tries to get in your way. That was the beginning of the long road to medicine for me and the deep, deep impossibility of paying off the debt that came with it.

The following Sunday I went to visit my parents in Boring, an area identified mostly by it’s zip code 97009. My siblings (6) and I usually gathered together on Sundays for swimming, watching football, catching up on current events and sharing dinner together. My parents’ home where we all grew up together was a 4 bedroom, 1900 square foot ranch style 1970’s home with 2 bathrooms (my parents master suite had a full bath and the seven of us kids shared the other bathroom). All of us knew that we would work hard in school and go to college. It was ingrained. Although we were middle class we were expected to figure out how to do so financially and cognitively. The youngest of us Nick and I were lucky because we learned from the stumbling blocks of the older siblings of how to make it through college financially and academically. Even though my parents had seven children and were middle class none of us received scholarships to the public schools. My older siblings did graduate from college but it took more than four years to do so because they worked full time to earn tuition and basic living expenses. The thought of continuing beyond a bachelor’s degree was readily dismissed. By the time Nick and I were ready for college my mom decided that going away to college, working summers for tuition, getting help from her and Dad and taking out federal student loans was a better way to get through college than what my older siblings endured. Because of their help and the student loans I vowed to finish college in four years. I did, although I had to take some Community college classes during one summer to earn enough hours to graduate in four years. And, yes I also worked full time that summer too.

That Sunday after everyone had gone home and I was helping my Mom with the dishes I told her that I had been thinking about going to medical school. She asked with interest how long had I been thinking about it. I told her that I tossed the idea around since undergraduate school but didn’t think it was possible since I wasn’t exactly a genius. The students who were pre-med that I knew were all groomed for medicine and took classes, like Physical Chemistry/Zoology/Physics, I couldn’t even imagine being able to pass those classes. Interesting though, none of them got into medical school. They were weeded out of the pre-med classes. I told her that the desire was getting more nagging and that I had decided that I didn’t want to go to my grave without at least trying. As it was I wasn’t using my teaching degree and instead I was repairing coffee machines which was no challenge for me. And having no social life so why not invest the next 10 years or so into something I’d wanted to do for such a long time?

Dad overheard the last of this conversation and asked what all the serious talk was about. I told him I wanted to go to medical school and he said that was a terrific idea and had always felt I would make a great Doctor. I was surprised at his reaction and said so. He said that the way I was able to handle tools and diagnose problems with a car is unique and it would make me a natural for medicine. Although I didn’t realize it until my Dad pointed it out medicine and auto mechanics are eerily much a like. My father had been a mechanic and I would be his gofer on weekends when he would work on the family cars. There were many weekends of car fixing especially when we kids began to drive. There were seven of us kids and five with driver’s licenses and cars. Growing up in a rural area tends to make owners of cars at earlier ages than in the city where public transportation exists. The deal was if you bought your own car and auto insurance Dad would help keep it on the road, safely. So Dad would talk to me about how it was important to correctly diagnose the problem of a car first and then determine what was needed to be done to solve the problem. And