Has anyone ever heard of 'government overpayment'? Is it dischargable?

[luckstyl]

I was on ROTC scholarship while in college for nearly 4 years. My junior year, I got hurt doing PT for the Army and had two surgeries on my hand. About 14 months later, after the surgeries and months of being in a sling, cast, and doing rehab, I had not gotten back into the physical shape required to be on ROTC scholarship. The Army blamed me and said that it was my fault, and revoked my scholarship and attempted to collect about $54,000 in tuition/textbook expenses from me. I do admit the situation was *partly* my fault, but that's neither here nor there. The scholarship was not only my means on paying for college, but it was my income as well because it included a monthly stipend. I had some credit card debt that I got way behind on after I lost the stipend, as well as a personal loan(not a student loan) that was through USAA and part of the ROTC program. I'm in a ton of debt right now with no means to pay it off, and have begun meeting with lawyers about Ch7 bankruptcy.

On my credit report, the $54,000 owed to the Army is classified as 'government overpayment', as opposed to an educational loan, or student loan, etc. No money was ever loaned to me by the Army, it was tuition paid directly to the University. I'm waiting to hear back from a lawyer who was supposedly looking into whether it's dischargable, but he seems flaky and I can't get a hold of him. I will definitely meet with more lawyers, but for right now I wanted to see if any of you have run into this before, and whether or not it is dischargable. The lawyer said it should be dischargable but he wasn't sure yet.

[tcreegan]

Hi again luckstyl,

Posted some attorney shopping hints on your other thread...

I think it is better to be a govt overpayment than a student loan, at least you have a chance w/ a govt overpayment....not sure I would push to separate the tuition and stipend.

But, hey, another good question to ask an attorney during a consultation!

Tom in Colo

[luckstyl]

Thanks for the replies Tom. Fortunately, the government did not ask me to repay the stipend, as that was essentially considered a paycheck for spending so much time during the week doing ROTC activities. Tuition and textbook expenses are the only things that they expected reimbursement for.