When their daughter died, a California couple was left to take care of her children — and her student debt.
Steve and Darnelle Mason have used up most of their retirement savings paying off $200,000 in student loans after their 27-year-old daughter Lisa died suddenly in 2007 from liver failure.
The Redlands couple make modest salaries at a local church where Steve is a Pastor and Darnelle is the Director of Ministries — incomes that are stretched further now that they care for Lisa’s three children.
“It’s just impossible on a pastor’s salary raising three kids to pay $2,000 a month on loans,” Steve Mason told CNN.
The debt fell on the parents because Steve Mason was a co-signer on the private loans Lisa took out for nursing school. That means if the student can’t pay the tab — for any reason — the co-signer is obligated to step in and foot the bill.
Originally for $100,000, the total due increased to $200,000 due to late fees and a hefty 12% interest rate.
“Somehow getting (my daughter) an education has encumbered me for the rest of my life,” Steve Mason said.
Had the loans been federal, the debt would have been lessened or possibly forgiven, but private companies are not required to grant aid for financial emergencies, he explained.
Steve Mason, who is almost 60 years old, said he and Darnelle have used almost all of their retirement savings.
“We didn’t have a lot saved to begin with, and now any extra money goes to the kids, as it should, and then whatever we can pay on the loans, we do,” he said. “At my stage of life, I should have a very different lifestyle than I do.”
After the Masons told their story to CNN, the company that manages Lisa Mason’s loans, Navient Corp., reduced the total due and lowered the interest rate.
Still, the Masons struggle to make ends meet. They’re raising Lisa’s three children, and their salaries from the church are modest, Steve Mason said.
The pastor said he thought about declaring bankruptcy, but even that wouldn’t solve the problem: Student loans are the only debt not forgiven via bankruptcy.
The Masons have started a Change.org petition to allow student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy cases.
