Robert Applebaum's Bio:
Robert Applebaum is an attorney from Staten Island, NY and the founder of ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com. Rob earned his Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the State University of New York College at Oneonta and is a 1998 graduate of Fordham University School of Law. Thereafter, he served as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y. between 1999 and 2004, during which time, he necessarily had to place his student loans into forbearance because he simply could not afford both student loan payments and living expenses on his public servant's salary.
After 5 years of service as an ADA, because of his exponentially increasing student loan debt, Mr. Applebaum made the unfortunate decision to leave a public service job he loved for the private sector, where he remained for the next 5 years.
During those next 5 years, he made regular payments on his student loan debt, never once defaulting, and he continues to make payments to this very day. Despite over eight years of regular payments, and because of the first five years during which his loans were in forbearance, the principal loan balance is more than $20,000 higher today than it was on the day he graduated. Unfortunately, he's not alone.
In late January, 2009, frustrated with countless bailouts of the very institutions responsible for the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, news of lavish vacations, exorbitant bonuses and office redecorations, Robert Applebaum authored an essay entitled "Forgive Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy" which he posted to a new Facebook Group by the same name. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the Facebook group, Mr. Applebaum founded ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com so as to advocate for both current and former students struggling under massive amounts of student loan debt.
