<prompt> Human: Ive been currently going to a private school since 2015 and was getting help from the government to pay for school. However, as of 25 you are considered as an independent and can no longer receive financial aid on behalf of your parents. The cost of a semester there ranges from 20k-21k and would only have to pay 6k out of pocket. But as of fall 2016, FASFA did not wish to help me pay for the 21k and am now stuck with this crazy debt. Ive tried applying with several different banks including Wells Fargo, discovery, sallie mae, you name it. But they all denied me even with a co signed due to my low credit score. Now the reason why I have a low credit score was because my parents opened up credit cards under my name and stopped paying for them. So now Im currently out of school and Im receiving letters from my school demanding me to pay for this debt or they will add another 6k on top of my debt and will half to pay for court fees once they decide to take me to court. I was advised to go into collections but I do not want to do that. This school is garbage and does not even offer classes that I am supposed to take every semester in order to graduate on time. This causes me to take out more loans and be more in debt so I really dont know what to do. Can anyone please give me advise as to how I can resolve this issue. I am stressing out right now. TLDR: my school is making me pay 20k Ive been denied for a loan due to my low credit. If I do not pay this debt in a certain amount of time they are taking me to court. Please help!  <response>: The FAFSA is an application; it didnt deny you aid. The school did. Is this a for-profit school? Sure as hell sounds like it.Have you addressed your parents fraud? Reported them for identity theft? Tried to repair your credit? You need to do that, or youll never repair your credit score.Assuming the school wont come around, your best course of action is to withdraw right now and work out a payment plan with the school. Alternatively you could file for bankruptcy - since your credit score is already garbage you dont have a ton to lose there, but it depends if you have any other assets. The only sticking point here is that student loans arent dischargeable in bankruptcy, but it sounds like you didnt take out loans for the semester, is that right? 