Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Student Bankruptcy and Masters degree plans

 I am about 1.5 years out from getting a nice TA-ship, I have 5 classes to take between fall and spring, which student loans are financing. Bachelors in Accounting Debt level: around 30k in student loans, 10-11k in credit cards, 277 month on car lease renewal, 177 month on insurance. I am considering strongly obtaining another part-time position now that my classes this term are 95% finished, but it will not make any dents into my debt. I was making 8,300 yearly tutoring accounting theory working for the same local college for around 3.5 years before the academic clique did me in & one member got promoted from tutor to boss then started stalking me which I had to report to HR and campus police. The only result is that stalker parking lot is now not as popular of a place to park apparently. Back when I was employed regularly, I was paying around 400 out monthly to car lease and insurance, and rent to live on, and now off campus. How I miss the days of bi-monthly 600 auto-deposits. I am considering ruining my excellent credit, which will get ruined anyway as a function of time, and not making money anymore, by declaring chapter 7, which I realise is around $367 to file. I have no savings, and am happy to have a supportive parent, though I am depleting their savings as well with my situation. My academic billable rate hourly is 13.67-15 hour and I had used to private tutor also. I had considered paying to get a Masters in Fraud, but my local university wants around 40k for the program, which is more debt than I care to take on, and looked into doing a similar program online, but that would run around 24k, which I feel is too much debt. I realise I have spent almost 5 years of my life working in tutoring the theory of accounting, and having all of the accounting hours requirements met, I would prefer to be sponsored for a Masters degree, rather than paying out of pocket with graduate loans, which are worse than undergraduate loans. I would also have the option to get out of leases or credit cards theoretically with Chapter 7. Any property or vehicle (car) are owned by my parent and not by me. The minimums on the credit cards are jumping to unmanageable levels given my income and just this month, I am getting daily reminders which I and my parent ignore. Only my baby credit lines (<400) are still doing okay, but I am willing to give up my credit usage entirely under bankruptcy to get back to a healthy financial state. I also realize that if forgiven the debt would be taxable potentially but am okay with knowing I could recover economically in time, working part-time &/ experimenting in safe entrepreneurial ventures. I have also in the past couple of years received conditional admits for accounting and MBA programs but the cost was too much, ranging from 24k-37,500. I was also rejected from the Penn State online masters in accounting for my GRE. I feel I am basically unrecruitable right now because of the aging of my first bachelors degree. I do also feel I am at this huge disadvantage for not getting accepted in prior years to the honors masters in accounting, but then again for TA's they are sorely underpaid. I feel even accounting as an adjunct is preferable to years of tutoring in academia. One Deloitte recruiter once told me to get a Masters in anything, that it didn't matter since I have the 150 hours, to attempt to recruit as a second year Master's student. I have been trying to do that and have a plan which does not involve taking additional debt. My application to sit for the exam is good until 2020, I have scholarship which is good forever for one of the popular review products. I could even adjunct for the experience under a state licensed cpa, I know, if I choose to down the road or sit for the CFE. My mentor once told me long ago, I am in the wrong region for accounting recruitment, they are very selective, but I can't afford to move with my debt level. I feel bankruptcy may be my best option, along with a part-time position. I also wonder, if once I go through the process to become a TA, if I should leave academia, attempting recruitment again, or remain since I would have acclimated into a pleasant surrounding. And if my second language acquisition would help me if I got recruited for Audit. My only academic service accounting experience was VITA and a tax practice course. On my interviews, I am all ready typecast as being an academic accountant.