<prompt> Human: First of all, this is my friends situation, not my own, but I really want to find some good advice for him. Hes a great guy, very smart and motivated, and just got the worst end of the deal here, and has been stuck for a few years already...The situation: He was at a private college a few years ago paying something like 20kyr tuition, and took out loans for 2-3 years worth of tuition at a high interest rate. I forget exactly, but something like 8-9? Maybe even higher? His current balance is something like 80k. Before his senior year, the school lost accreditation for his degree program and shut down. As a result, he has no hope of getting his initial degree, but also cant transfer any credit for the courses he took into any other school. Hed have to start from scratch at a new school. He has no money to pay for any new school, nor does he really want to start over and waste 3 years that he already did, plus he cant take out any new loans on account of the debt on the old ones. Because he has no actual degree, he cant find any well-paying job, and is stuck somewhere just above minimum wage. He already exhausted his legal options that he knows of on getting the student loan written off. Its not qualified to be discharged in a bankruptcy. It was taken through a private agency, nothing govt related, and doesnt qualify within those new loan-writeoff laws if a collection agency cant trace the actual loan ownership. Given the interest gathering on the loan, it can truly never be paid off with his available income, and the balance actually just continues to grow larger. At the same time, he has no real incentive to work because whatever he earns would get taken to pay toward this unpayable loan. So with no seeming way out, he simply moved home, didnt work for a long time, and gave up making any loan payments. But this thing is still hanging over him, apparently forever. Hes been doing free online courses basically full time the past couple years to learn programming, but cant get his foot in the door anywhere in that field. I think his leading plan right now is to leave the country, abandon everything, and risk never coming back. I wish I had some suggestions to give on how to dig out of this, but I just dont even know. Any advice is appreciated!Assistant: Before his senior year, the school lost accreditation for his degree program and shut down. As a result, he has no hope of getting his initial degree, but also cant transfer any credit for the courses he took into any other school. Hed have to start from scratch at a new school. That isnt how that works. Coursework that was completed while the school was accredited is still accredited coursework. At a minimum, Thomas Edison State University, Charter Oak State College or Excelsior College would accept those credits as long as the school was regionally, not nationally, accredited.Human: Im not sure of the exact details of why, but I know he looked into transferring credits to a some alternate schools, but none would accept them. Those seem like some pretty obscure schools you list, howd you come across those?  <response>: I have no idea where that list came from or if its valid, but Thomas Edison State College is a legitimate school. Its actually a NJ state college geared towards adult students. He might even be able to go online for the 1 year needed. Its an option and I would finish it up for sure if he is making so little. 