After nearly three decades as a bankruptcy judge, Sarah Sharer Curley details what she calls the unfairness of the legal process in her new book, “The Price of Forgiveness: Debt, Bankruptcy, and the Future of Fairness in America.”
She calls Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” an “attack” on student loan borrowers and predicts an increase in bankruptcy filings. She says the law sets unrealistic federal student loan caps, potentially pushing students toward private loans that lack federal guarantees and often carry higher interest rates.
For example, let’s say a student needs a $300,000 loan to go to medical school. If the individual has a lower credit score, their interest rate may jump to 16%, leading to a payment of $5,017 per month over 10 years, or $302,040 in interest.
These expenses are not sustainable for most individuals. The rate of bankruptcy filings will most likely increase. One of the most painful cases she witnessed in her three decades presiding over bankruptcy cases, involved a 73-year-old woman who stood before her in 2012 with a student loan balance of more than $584,000.
The debt dated back to the 1970s and had grown throughout the woman’s public sector career. She had “never made a lot of money,” Curley said, and by the time she sought debt relief, the woman was living in poverty, with Social Security as her only income. Even so, strict bankruptcy laws can make student loans nearly impossible to discharge.
There were attempts by the U.S. Department of Education to work out repayment plans for student loan borrowers who could not repay their debts. There was also the possibility that the Education Department would agree to forgive at least a portion of the student loans.
However, once the Education Department was gutted in 2025, there were few, if any, employees who could approve the debt modifications through one of the offered programs. As a result, it has become harder to reach a settlement with the Department of Education.
In 2025, more than half a million personal bankruptcy cases were filed — an almost 50% rise from three years prior, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
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For borrowers who are struggling with student loan debt, relief options are available. Many student loan borrowers are unaware that they have rights and repayment options available to them, such as postponement of loan payments, reduction of payments or even a complete discharge of the debt. There are ways to file for bankruptcy with student loan debt. It is important you contact an experienced Miami bankruptcy attorney who can advise you of all your options. As an experienced CPA as well as a proven bankruptcy lawyer, Timothy Kingcade knows how to help clients take full advantage of the bankruptcy laws to protect their assets and get successful results. Since 1996 Kingcade Garcia McMaken has been helping people from all walks of life build a better tomorrow. Our attorneys help thousands of people every year take advantage of their rights under bankruptcy protection to restart, rebuild, and recover. The day you hire our firm; we will contact your creditors to stop the harassment. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade Garcia McMaken website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.
