Non-US citizen about to default on private, US-based college loan

[xyz12345]

Hi there,

I've taken out a loan to attend a private university in the US a few years back. This school has a cooperation with a private, US-based, lending institution to enable prospective international students that cannot find any other forms of financing to take out a loan. In case of the student not being able to make payments and going into default the university is then liable to pay as it basically functions as co-signer.

I've been making my payments for the last several years, but now I am encountering financial difficulties that will likely force me to go into default on the loan. That would then mean the university would have to pay the remainder of the loan. As my situation does not look likely to improve over the next few years a deferment may not be an option, so it will likely result in the private university having to cough up the money.

Borrowing money from another source is not an option for me as I have no assets to use as collateral. I own a 2nd hand car, re-possessing that would yield less value than going through the whole (int'l) paperwork to get a title to re-possess it in the first place. I do not own any real estate or have any wealthy family, I come from a fairly humble background by US standards.

I am NOT living & working in the US and am NOT a US citizen. The loan is NOT a federal student loan and the amount outstanding is less than $100k.

What are my options? Can the university get a title against me and possibly re-sell that to an international collections agency? Does it depend on bi-lateral relations? Could it affect me in any way if I were to move to the US at some point in the future? Could I declare chapter 7 bankruptcy in the US? Any other suggestions, possibilities and/or consequences?

So far it's not come to this and I'm merely conducting exploratory research. I think the fact that I've actually paid for a few years shows that I'm not trying to run from my responsibilities or get an education on someone else's dime.

Hope you can understand that I will not mention the name of the university or the lending institution.

Thanks in advance for any and all help & suggestions.

xyz12345