Armed With A Camera And The Truth, Filmmakers Push Student Loan Reform

They waited for Michael Moore to make a documentary about it, but he didn't. So they decided to make their own.

In a nutshell, that's what spurred Serge Bakalian and Aurora Meneghello to travel around the country and interview hundreds of student loan borrowers while making their 27-minute film, Default: The Student Loan Documentary. The horror stories they kept hearing about private student loans -- the ballooning interest rates, the 18-year-olds owing tens of thousands of dollars, the complex laws that make filing for bankruptcy virtually impossible -- made them angry. But nobody else seemed to know about it.

"Friends kept telling me about their private student loans," Bakalian, the producer and co-writer of the documentary, told Change.org in an interview last week, "and we thought, surely somebody is going to make a documentary about this."

Although many people borrow federal money to pay for college and take advantage of grants and scholarships, approximately 20 percent of college loan dollars are from private, for-profit companies. These businesses, which include Sallie Mae and many commercial banks, can charge exorbitant interest rates while benefiting from special government perks. (Thanks to convoluted federal laws, it's virtually impossible to declare bankruptcy on a private student loan.)

Trouble is, Bakalian said, even though he had witnessed so many college graduates trapped by impossibly high student loan payments, most people don't know it's a problem. Many U.S. policymakers came of age when college was cheaper, and loans were less common. A story like 23-year-old Kelli Space's, who is $200,000 in debt after earning an undergraduate degree, might sound far fetched, but Space is nowhere near alone. More and more 20-somethings are starting their professional lives with five-and-six-figure debts.  To capture these stories, the Default team traveled the country interviewing borrowers and co-signers who are buried under private student loan debt.

Bakalian didn't go to film school, he said, and that shouldn't be a barrier to anyone who wants to pick up a camera and tell the truth. "You don't need fancy equipment," he told Change.org -- just use what you have and then get your story out online. The Default team is now hosting screenings around the country, and hope to show the film to legislators in 2011. (A proposed law that would help make it easier for student loan borrowers to declare bankruptcy, which Change.org covered back in October, has stalled in Congress.)

You can get involved too. If you are a student loan borrower, are repaying your loans or co-signed on a student loan, they want to hear from you. Make a short video of yourself - no longer than three minutes - sharing how much you originally borrowed, how much you are expected to pay every month, whether you can pay it and the current balance you owe. They want to know how your debt is impacting your life, what advice you have for potential college students and what you want to say to Congress. Upload it, then email the link to studentloans@krotala.com, and let us know in the comments of this post. You can also join the Default documentary community on Facebook and Twitter.

You can view the preview of Default at http://www.defaultmovie.com, and schedule a screening of the entire 27-minute film at your campus or organization by emailing screenings@krotala.com.

Photo credit: Default: The Student Loan Documentary