Debt U

continued

"I'm between a rock and a hard place," Moore says. Only after she filed for bankruptcy last spring did her situation improve, the non-student debts wiped out. Further, her younger son now is eligible for full-day kindergarten at public school. Relieved of the expense of childcare, she's again able to repay $200 a month to the feds and just recently negotiated another $200 monthly payment to a bank. If she can continue making payments for several months, she says, there's a chance U-M might again step in to help erase the debts.

Moore believes the law school wants to help its own but doesn't know what to do with "non-traditional students. They're used to dealing with twenty-two-year-olds, no kids, parents paying the tuition."

Assistant law dean Sarah Zearfoss won't comment on Moore's story, but insists that it's "completely inaccurate" to say that the school doesn't accommodate less-affluent students, pointing out that 10 percent of U-M law students are the first in their family to go to college. Further, she says, "We do a great deal to help people get placed and supported if they want to go into non-traditional careers."