Feeling so trapped!! Uuggghhhhh (depression and HECS debt)

[spunkyturtle]

I am currently attending day therapy programs two days a week. It helps. I have had some success this year - I had $27,800 HECS debt removed and now a legal firm has agreed to help me, pro bono to take the last two Universities to the AAT for another $16,000 HECS debt.

I am just feeling so trapped, I have put on so much weight because of the meds. It really makes it hard for me to leave the house and make friends, I feel like a whale. I just stopped taking the medication two days ago and my appetite is gone, I'm not hungry at all.

I am in a heap of debt, on one hand it is reducing rapidly, I am fortunate to have a DSP, then I get so frustrated because I can't move out because 85% of my income goes off the debt. With 2 days of therapy, 3 full days of TAFE is so overwhelming. I feel like by the time my finances are fixed I'll be too old to have children. Uuugggghhhhhh

am sick of feeling so anxious and depressed and frustrated. I'd welcome any tips or suggestions. I know there are positives and I try to focus on the positives, it's just so overwhelmingly frustrating.

thanks for listening

[BeKindRewind4Life]

You can usually get debt remittance forms from the university you attended ZeeBear 🙂 I got remittance on my last semester at my university with the help of a very strongly worded letter towards the university from a psychiatrist. It's true many universities think it's good PR to say they are inclusive and cater to disabilities, but I can tell you from personal experience that whilst I am on disability for an anxiety disorder, the university I attended decided and more to the point the disability officer at this university decided to not tell me that having exams on my option was an option whilst I had to hear this was from a student with dyslexia. I have a failed exam because of this discrimination, and it followed me all the way though my degree, which I have half of after leaving due to family reasons. I did get a remittance on my last semester before I left after explaining I was under a lot of stress to the university because my mother is dying.... oh I got the remittance after a letter from a psychiatrist, so get as many legally binding statements as you can with the application. Universities have big legal teams, and even bigger issues with bad publicity.

[brownbag]

Hi Spunkyturtle,

In a different post (which seems to have been closed off) you mentioned that if you request a remission of debt due to mental health issues after a 12 month cut off date, you simply have to prove that the issue prevented you from making the application within the timeframe. Can you explain what this 12 month time frame refers to?

Thanks.