Institute of Imaginal Studies v. Christoff (In re Christoff)

Chapter

MEMORANDUM DECISION REGARDING DISCHARGEABILITY OF EDUCATION LOAN

I. INTRODUCTION

The court is presented with an apparent case of first impression in this circuit: *877 when a private educational institution finances a deferred payment of its tuition and related fees owed by one of its students that did not involve a third party loan or an exchange of funds, is that debt excepted from discharge under section 523(a)(8)?

In addressing the issue court must consider two powerful competing principles: the need to give the honest debtor a fresh start 2 and the seemingly endless desire of Congress to except more and more student loans 3 from discharge absent undue hardship. 4 At the same time it must adhere to the well-settled principle to begin its analysis with the words of the statute when those words are not ambiguous or will not lead to absurd results. Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Union Planters Bank, N.A., 530 U.S. 1, 6 , 120 S.Ct. 1942 , 147 L.Ed.2d 1 (2000) (“when [a] statute’s language is plain, the sole function of the courts — at least where the disposition required by the text is not absurd — is to enforce it according to its terms”) (internal quotation…