Law Review Note: Sarah Holden, Consumer Protection & Bankruptcy Law—Rewarding Repayment: Removing the Fear from Crushing Student Loan Debt Through Alternatives to Discharge, 46 U. ARK. LITTLE ROCK L. REV. 83 (2023)

Available at: https://lawrepository.ualr.edu/lawreview/vol46/iss1/3

Summary:

This Note urges a “think outside the box” approach to student loan repayment reform focusing on pre-default opportunities for more effective borrower engagement and more efficient debt management. Section II of this Note reviews the legislative framework that created increasingly harsh treatment of student loan discharge in bankruptcy. Section II then examines the various methods lenders have used to abuse and exploit both borrowers and the judicial system as a result of presumptive nondischargeability. Section III of this Note argues for an interdisciplinary, evidence-based approach to tackling student loan debt management that leverages gamification and rewards by utilizing a servicer-agnostic platform to encourage faster and more efficient debt repayment. Section III also suggests that the burden of funding a student loan management platform should be shouldered by educational institutions relative to the number of student loan borrowers an institution generates and the amount of time it takes borrowers to repay the incurred debt. Finally, Section IV of this Note explores alternative methods of reducing defaults and correcting systemic inequities in student loan borrowing and argues that these alternatives are insufficient to provide the long-term relief sought by millions of people.

Commentary:

Starting with an excellent overview of student loans and then  bankruptcy,  this law review note proceeds to discuss possible ways of improving student loan repayment through gamification.  That survey of various apps and programs is actually very interesting and detailed,  but the note fails to connect these with bankruptcy,  whether as an alternative or a supplement.  Whether student loan assistance programs,  such as Studentloanify,  might be able to incorporate  (or affiliate with other apps)  gamification to encourage both payments or even more SLAPs.

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