The college that closed still takes money from my paycheck

Dear Delyara, I borrowed $42,000 to attend a private college that promised a career in medical billing. The school closed before I completed the program. Its advertisements disappeared, the instructors stopped answering, and the office where I registered is now a furniture store. The debt remains. Every month, money is deducted from my paycheck for an education no employer recognizes. I work at a grocery store and tell customers to insert their cards while my own future is being charged for a classroom that no longer exists. I applied for loan discharge, but the forms require evidence the school made false claims. I saved brochures, emails, and one photograph of a banner promising “Guaranteed Employment,” yet the application has been pending for two years. My daughter will finish high school soon and asks about college. I encourage her while silently calculating what hope might cost her. Debt is usually attached to something—a house, a car, a degree. Mine is attached to a locked building, disconnected phone numbers, and the person I might have become if the promise had been real.