Tetzlaff repaid his debt to Florida Coastal largely because he needed the school’s cooperation in releasing his diploma and transcript. Thus, Tetzlaff was motivated by certain incentives to pay down his Florida Coastal debt that do not apply to the repayment of his debt held by Educational Credit.
— Judge Joel Flaum of the Seventh Circuit, denying plaintiff Mark Tetzlaff’s attempt to discharge his $260,000 educational debt. The judge notes that though Tetzlaff had racked up educational debt attending Florida Coastal Law School (financed directly with the school), it was not part of the discharge action and the law school’s marker had been paid down… because it knows how to crack a few fingers, or at least use the leverage it has over desperate graduates to keep the payments coming.