![handle is hein.journals/headnotpan106 and id is 1 raw text is: Essay
Changing the Student Loan Dischargeability
Framework: How the Department of Education
Can Ease the Path for Borrowers in Bankruptcy
Pamela Foohey,t Aaron S. Ament,tt and Daniel A.
Zibelftt
INTRODUCTION
The United States' consumer bankruptcy system supposedly
gives honest but unfortunate individuals a new opportunity in life
with a clear field for future effort, unhampered by the pressure and
discouragement of preexisting debt.' Access to bankruptcy's dis-
charge of debt is especially important in the wake of the COVID-19
pandemic, which has resulted in a once-in-a-century economic crisis
that is projected to increase bankruptcy filings by people struggling to
recover.2 Those who file bankruptcy will find a system that is already
difficult to navigate and has long-recognized racial and gender dispar-
ities in access and outcomes.3
t Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Copyright © 2020 by
Pamela Foohey.
tt President and Co-Founder, National Student Legal Defense Network. Copy-
right © 2020 by Aaron S. Ament.
ttt Vice President, Chief Counsel and Co-Founder, National Student Legal De-
fense Network. For more information about the National Student Legal Defense Net-
work, see https://www.defendstudents.org. Copyright © 2020 by Daniel A. Zibel.
1. Grogan v. Garner, 498 U.S. 279, 286-87 (1991) (quoting Local Loan Co. v.
Hunt, 292 U.S. 234, 244 (1934)), superseded by statute, Pub. L. No. 107-204, 116 Stat.
801 (2002), as recognized in Osborne v. Kakas, No. 4:17-CV-00254-JRG, 2018 WL
1354792, at*4 (Feb. 15, 2018).
2. See Pamela Foohey, Robert M. Lawless, & Deborah Thorne, Portraits of Bank-
ruptcy Filers, 56 GA. L. REV. (forthcoming 2022) (manuscript at 1-2), https://ssrn.com/
abstract=3807592 [https://perma.cc/7FYY-AK4Z].
3. See generally id. (describing who files bankruptcy and barriers to access);
Paige Marta Skiba, Dali6 Jimenez, Michelle McKinnon Miller, Pamela Foohey, & Sara
Sternberg Green, Bankruptcy Courts Ill-Prepared for Tsunami of People Going Broke
from Coronavirus Shutdown, THE CONVERSATION (May 13, 2020), https://
1](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/headnotpan106&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most