High School 'Dropout' Wants $56k In Student Loans Discharged

TAMPA, FL — A 44-year-old University of South Florida graduate is suing John King Jr., the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, to get his $56,000 in student loans discharged.

His argument: He didn’t qualify for the loans in the first place.

Ian Torch Locklear’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court’s Middle District of Florida last week, contends he didn’t have the “ability to benefit” from the program he enrolled in at USF because he didn’t have a high school diploma.

According to court documents, Locklear was a student at Hillsborough High School in Tampa through Dec. 5, 1989. He applied for admission to USF in November 1989 while still in the 11th grade. Following his acceptance to USF, he dropped out of high school and moved on to higher education full-time in 1990.

“Mr. Locklear never graduated from high school and never received a high school diploma,” the lawsuit contends. He also never received an equivalent to a high school diploma, such as a GED. He did, however, graduate from USF on May 4, 1995, the lawsuit notes.

To foot the bill for his degree in interdisciplinary studies, Locklear took out six Stafford Subsidized loans, the lawsuit said. The loans have a current outstanding principal amount of $56,485 with an additional $10,981 in interest.

The lawsuit hinges on the Higher Education Act of 1965, which calls for student loans to be discharged if a school falsely certifies a student’s ability to benefit from a program loans are taken out for. The lawsuit says USF did just that and that Locklear shouldn’t have been approved for the loans in the first place without that high school diploma in hand. The school, the lawsuit contends, also failed to require an entrance exam for Locklear and didn’t provide any remedial studies to ensure his “ability to benefit.”

"Under the regulations which we contend were applicable, federal law allows certain federal student loans to be discharged if the educational institution falsely certified that the student was eligible for federal student loans," Locklear's attorney, Nancy Cavey of The Student Loan Law Resolution Center, told Patch. "We are seeking to discharge Mr. Locklear’s federal student loans since he was, in fact, not eligible for those loans at the time he took them out."

Based on those assertions, Locklear tried back in 2010 to get the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation, which managed his loans, to discharge the debt. The request was denied, as were appeals to the U.S. Department of Education, the lawsuit states.

"We are contending that the denial of the discharge was wrong and that the Department of Education is relying on the wrong regulations and inconsistent regulations," Cavey said. She cited a similar case out of Missouri, McGuire v. Arne Duncan, noting that "U.S. District Judge Perry agreed with the same arguments we are raising in the Locklear matter. The Department of Education has taken an appeal in the McGuire matter."

Locklear's case was filed in federal court in mid-March. Locklear is asking for a complete discharge of debt, attorney’s fees and a repayment of money he’s shelled out on the loans so far.

A hearing date has yet to be scheduled.

The U.S. Department of Education does not comment on pending litigation.

Photo of USF from the USF Facebook page

Sign up for the Tampa Patch newsletter and alerts!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, too!