Opanin Gyaami, a 71 years old dentist, has been going every other day to the state prison in Vacaville to treat dental patients. He has been doing this in order to earn money to pay off his incredibly large student loan. Again, it bears repeating: he is 71 years old.
His pretty ugly story started in the 1980s, when Dr. Gyaami borrowed $50,000 and did not pay enough attention to subsequent payment notices from the government. As a result and a history of late and non-payment, the accumulated interest and penalties reached nearly $500,000. Eventually, the Justice Department sued him and in settlement agreement a sum of $3,000 is currently taken monthly from his paycheck.
Dr. Gyaami says that he accepts the verdicts as they are all came as a result of bad decisions he made a long time ago. He also feels he is does not deserve any sort of sympathy. He explains "I don't want to sound like I'm blaming someone else for my woes," adding "If you take a loan and don't pay it, you're responsible. It became so overwhelming. I got scared, and it didn't go away."
Statistics indicate that the debt resulting from student loans has exceeded $1 trillion. A number of law experts in Washington are acting to create a law that makes it easier to discharge some of the debt in bankruptcy. Currently student loans are not allowed to be resolved via bankruptcy.
While some might think the debt is mainly affecting younger students, the fact is, around 2.2 million US citizens, over 60, are affected by a debt of $43 billion coming from student loans. The latter fact is based on data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Elena Ackel, a senior attorney with Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, which usually gives advice in regards to student loan debt, comments "People think they're kids, but I'd say half the people who come here are over 40, and we have a lot over 60 and some over 70," adding "It just doesn't end because of all the fees and everything."
In case of Dr. Gyaami, he had gone for 5 loans till his graduation, which took place in 1983, from Loma Linda University. Among the loans was one for $50,000 that was provided though the federally guaranteed Health Education Assistance Loan program.
This loan program offered nearly $4 billion to 157,000 medical professionals from 1978 until 1998. The supervising agency of the program, the Department of Health and Human Services, said later that 935 of the beneficiaries are in currently in debt for $115 million collectively.
In the case of Dr. Gyaami, he received a loan of $50,000. But this soon reached $195,000 after the addition of penalties, interest, and fees. Worse yet, as of 2010 this debt had increased to $522,214.
Later in 2010, the government decreased the total to $400,000. And it has since been taking $3,000 from Dr. Gyaami’s paycheck every month. He thinks that he needs around 10 years to pay the whole debt. He comments "It's not easy to deal with," adding "It looks like I'll have to work as a dentist until the day I drop off and die."
