Get Wendy to Law School!

Hi, I'm Wendy. Some of you may know me as an advocate, or as a formerly incarcerated person. I applied to law school and was accepted to several different places with scholarships! But they only cover a little under half of the tuition; so several thousand dollars remain, not to mention living expenses.

 

I'll need to take out student loans, and I don't mind investing in myself for that-- but during my incarceration, I went into default on student loans I had as an undergraduate. Incarceration is a valid reason to defer student loans-- but that has to be arranged prior to incarceration. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly have any warning when I went in. So now I'm in the horrible position where I have to either pay them off entirely or make nine months of consistent payments to get them out of default and be eligible to take out loans again. This https://www.opencampusmedia.org/2022/04/26/student-loan-defaults-are-a-big-barrier-to-prison-education-the-government-is-offering-new-help/ sums up the problem perfectly: 

"[T]here are two ways people who have defaulted can restore their Pell eligibility. They can pay off the balance in its entirety, [or] make nine consecutive monthly payments of at least $5. That brings the loan into good standing and allows them to access federal financial aid."

Nine consecutive payments will be March for me, meaning I would not be eligible for loans until next year. 

Luckily it's not the same disaster many are facing today. Nevertheless, I need $10,000 to finish paying the loans off in order to be eligible to take out loans to finance my law degree. If I don't get the money to pay this off, I will not be able to attend this fall. That would be a shame because so many people put in a lot of time, effort, and energy to make this happen. As far as we know, I'm the first person to get admitted to an ABA accredited law school while on home confinement. Missing this opportunity is not an option, so I'm hoping to get as much as possible. Any funds we raise above the initial $10,000 will be put toward my remaining tuition and living expenses. Thank you so much for any help you can provide; any little bit counts!