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Rating: 
Summary: Generalized Information
Review: I an an ex-lawyer with considerable exposure to some student loan issues. This book still told me things I did not know. I recommend it for people with minor, moderate, or severe student loan difficulties who are not thoroughly familiar with the rules governing their loans, or who are looking for new ideas on how to deal with their loans. This is not to say that anyone should rely on this book by itself. Things often get complicated when you proceed past the general-purpose advice to the specifics of your own case. The primary value of this book is to alert the reader to the overall shape of the problem or solution. My copy describes itself, on the back cover, as a "substantially updated 2nd edition." Its title page indicates it was last revised in February 2000. This may well be true. If so, I would distinguish "substantially" updated from "fully" updated. The book repeatedly refers to court decisions that are now a number of years old -- describing a 1993 case, for example, as "recent." In addition, I have some concerns about the book's accuracy. For instance, in discussing the legal defense known as "laches," the author says, "[I]n only one case has a former student defended against a lawsuit claiming laches." (Pg. 7/37.) This is incorrect, and I believe it was mistaken even at the time of the first edition. I would say that the author also misphrases the state of affairs when s/he says, "In general, you cannot assert the defense of laches against the government." A more accurate phrasing would be that "the defense of laches is unlikely to succeed against the government." There appears to have been some softening on the issue in other contexts in recent years, and other courts reviewing the one case to which the author refers have not generally said that the case -- granting a discharge to the student on grounds of laches -- was decided wrongly under its particular circumstances. To provide one other example of error, on page 10/13 the author lays down the blanket rule that a student loan cannot be discharged in bankruptcy if it was made by a government unit. This is not what the law says. In context, I suspect the author meant to say that it CAN be discharged in bankruptcy if it is NOT made by a government unit. The book does explain the relevant laws more carefully elsewhere; the net effect of this error will probably be (a) to mislead a few people who do not read those other sections and (b) to confuse everyone else. The important thing is to use a book like this to gain a general orientation to the issues, and take seriously its final chapter, which offers a bit of advice on how to do your own legal research. If you proceed that way, you will tend not to be confused by the occasional imperfection in general-purpose books like this one (and at this point, I don't believe anyone can help making at least an occasional mistake), and with a fair amount of effort you will probably be able to save yourself the expense and hassle of making obvious, costly, time-consuming errors in deciding how to proceed with your own case. I have not found another book with anywhere near as much useful information on the subject of handling student loan debt. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is willing to use this book as one should use any legal authority: read it, understand it, and double-check its conclusions.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent (not perfect) General-Purpose Student Loan Advice
Review: I an an ex-lawyer with considerable exposure to some student loan issues. This book still told me things I did not know. I recommend it for people with minor, moderate, or severe student loan difficulties who are not thoroughly familiar with the rules governing their loans, or who are looking for new ideas on how to deal with their loans. This is not to say that anyone should rely on this book by itself. Things often get complicated when you proceed past the general-purpose advice to the specifics of your own case. The primary value of this book is to alert the reader to the overall shape of the problem or solution. My copy describes itself, on the back cover, as a "substantially updated 2nd edition." Its title page indicates it was last revised in February 2000. This may well be true. If so, I would distinguish "substantially" updated from "fully" updated. The book repeatedly refers to court decisions that are now a number of years old -- describing a 1993 case, for example, as "recent." In addition, I have some concerns about the book's accuracy. For instance, in discussing the legal defense known as "laches," the author says, "[I]n only one case has a former student defended against a lawsuit claiming laches." (Pg. 7/37.) This is incorrect, and I believe it was mistaken even at the time of the first edition. I would say that the author also misphrases the state of affairs when s/he says, "In general, you cannot assert the defense of laches against the government." A more accurate phrasing would be that "the defense of laches is unlikely to succeed against the government." There appears to have been some softening on the issue in other contexts in recent years, and other courts reviewing the one case to which the author refers have not generally said that the case -- granting a discharge to the student on grounds of laches -- was decided wrongly under its particular circumstances. To provide one other example of error, on page 10/13 the author lays down the blanket rule that a student loan cannot be discharged in bankruptcy if it was made by a government unit. This is not what the law says. In context, I suspect the author meant to say that it CAN be discharged in bankruptcy if it is NOT made by a government unit. The book does explain the relevant laws more carefully elsewhere; the net effect of this error will probably be (a) to mislead a few people who do not read those other sections and (b) to confuse everyone else. The important thing is to use a book like this to gain a general orientation to the issues, and take seriously its final chapter, which offers a bit of advice on how to do your own legal research. If you proceed that way, you will tend not to be confused by the occasional imperfection in general-purpose books like this one (and at this point, I don't believe anyone can help making at least an occasional mistake), and with a fair amount of effort you will probably be able to save yourself the expense and hassle of making obvious, costly, time-consuming errors in deciding how to proceed with your own case. I have not found another book with anywhere near as much useful information on the subject of handling student loan debt. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is willing to use this book as one should use any legal authority: read it, understand it, and double-check its conclusions.
Rating:
Summary: Generalized Information
Review: The author has taken information which is available in your student loan packet and from your lender, complied it with inaccuate state information, compiled it into a book and given it a title. A total waste of money. I returned the book for a refund.
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