“...35 adversary proceedings in 2012”
Out of how many? Many hundreds of thousands, if not somewhat over a million. And let there be no doubt, soon as the Feds see whatever movement this is bound to spark take root, they will scrutinize hardship cases more.
What a worthless article. To begin with, almost every bankruptcy court in the nation applies the "Brunner Test", which requires that the borrower shows, among other things, that they (1)cannot maintain, based on current income and expenses, a minimal standard of living for the debtor and dependents if forced to pay off student loans; [and] (2) additional circumstances exist indicating that this state of affairs is likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans; [and] (3) You have made good faith efforts to repay the loans. Essentially, this means that you must prove that for the foreseeable future you will be living below the poverty line. That test is entirely made up out of nothing and imposes a much, much higher standard than found in the Bankruptcy Code.
On top of that, if the debtor is successful in discharging the loan in bankruptcy court, the U.S. Attorney, acting on behalf of the Department of Education, will always appeal to the District Court, and then to the Circuit Court if necessary. The only occasion they will concede dischargeabilty is if the debtor has qualified for a Social Security disability.