Bill clarifying student loan obligations reintroduced in Congress

When the Bryski family of Marlton contacted their congressman in 2009, they told his staff about their son's death and the burden of the student loan debt they had inherited. The next September, a bill named in honor of their son, Christopher, passed the U.S. House.

But then the bill's shepherd, U.S. Rep. John Adler (D., N.J.), was defeated in the November 2010 election. In the spring, Adler, 51, of Cherry Hill, died suddenly of an infection after heart surgery.

The House bill, which aimed to further clarify the student loan process to borrowers, expired in 2010, and a similar measure proposed in the U.S. Senate failed to become law.

It was a setback for the Bryskis, who have diligently made payments on their son's $50,000 in loans - a debt assigned to them when he suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2004 and died two years later.

But last month, Adler's onetime political foe and successor, U.S. Rep. Jon Runyan (R., N.J.), joined two Democrats to reintroduce the bill.

"It deals with consumer protection, at the root of it, and [Christopher] being a constituent, it's something that's very close to home," Runyan said Tuesday. "It's made a very grievous situation worse."

Along with Runyan, Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. brought the bill back in the House on Oct. 24. In the Senate, U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D., N.J.) put it forward.

"While the Bryski family struggled to deal with the loss of their son, they were burdened by additional hardships brought on by creditors and lenders," Lautenberg said in a statement. "They have shared their story so that other families have the guidance they need to make legal and financial decisions when tragedy strikes."

Christopher Bryski's father, Joseph Jr., never imagined harm coming to his son when he cosigned private education loans to help pay for college. A majority of private student loans involve a cosigner - more than 80 percent, according to the student loan company Sallie Mae.

Christopher Bryski, 23, was a varsity wrestler and a junior studying sports physiology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. In June 2004, he climbed a tree in a friend's yard. During his descent, a branch snapped. He fell about 45 feet to the ground.

For three days, he could respond to his family by squeezing their hands, said his brother Ryan Bryski. Then he had a stroke.

"He never recovered after that," said Ryan Bryski, 33, who works in crisis management.

As doctors tried through surgery and therapy to find a recovery for Christopher Bryski, his family began wading through paperwork. They needed to obtain guardianship and manage his financial obligations.

The federal government forgave the $4,500 it had lent him for college, standard policy for people who die with outstanding federally subsidized loans.

But private lenders, which have become a bigger player in college financing in recent years, have only begun to consider escape clauses for cosigners when borrowers die or become incapacitated. An estimated 13 percent of undergraduates at four-year colleges used private loans to help defray costs, and more than 26 percent of graduate students used the loans, according to government figures from 2007-08.

During the two years Christopher Bryski lived in a persistent vegetative state, his private loans came due, and his family struggled to keep up.

The family has about $36,000 left to pay on the loans. They know they're paying for college classes Christopher Bryski never attended. But they say they didn't contact Adler in an attempt to shirk repayment of the loans.

The bill "is not retroactive: We still have to pay Christopher's loan," said his mother, Diane Bryski, an administrative secretary at DeMasi Middle School in Evesham Township.

Ryan Bryski added, "A warning is really what it is for people."

The bill, known as the Christopher Bryski Student Loan Protection Act, would better spell out obligations for student borrowers and their families. It would require all private education lenders to clearly define the responsibilities of cosigners, including in the event a borrower dies. The bill would have colleges do the same.

"Right now it's down in the fine print, and most people don't read that," Runyan said.

No hearings have been scheduled on the bill, which was referred to a House subcommittee.

"It's just a matter of getting it through the committee and getting it to the floor," Runyan said. "Given what's on their plate, you do have to keep your eye on it. You have to drop subtle hints to the committee staff to make sure they haven't forgotten it . . . especially if it's at the subcommittee level."