how can i receive zakat?

My name is Jeremy Mondragon by birth, and my Muslim name is Umar Abdul Hakim.
I am writing this letter because my Imam just recently told me he wanted to help because he had learned about some debt I was in. I did not know Islamically it was wrong to be in debt. He asked me if I feared being in debt and explained to me why we should be in fear of debt.
The way I came into this debt is very unusual. I got scammed out of finances from two people claiming they were going to rent from me. They sent me $3,500 or so each and I was to send some of the money by Western Union to their shippers. So I did. 6 days later the checks were no good from my bank and I was left having to pay for the debt. I now owe $7,000 for just this one incident. So my Imam was inclined to not help because I have other debts. His Zakat he is obligated to give is in the sum of only $7,000 or so.
It is my regret to say that I have been going to school now for about 1 and 1/2 years and every semester I have taken out loans to go to school. My regret is not going to school though. One of the loans has interest, but only if I ever fall behind on any of the payments. The other has no interest. This is how the schools do their business, I do not know all the complete details, only that I do have debt in that area and my Imam says it is kind of Ha ram. The totals of this debt comes up to about $9,000 for 3 semesters. This is quite honestly the first time I have have added it up my school loans. This is just a rough figure of course. It might be a little less or a little more.
Now, during this time I also fell for another scam involving two things. A man said that an inheritance had been left in my name. He gave me all the documents showing me proof of my inheritance. All he needed was $750 to complete the transaction of showing proof that I was the inheritor for the property to be released in my name. The next scam was a woman I met over Muslima, in which I was trying to find a relationship with a Muslim woman. I met her, we talked for over 6 months and eventually I began to trust her. It came to the point where she and I wanted to meet and so I sent her over a $1,000 so she could get her ticket to fly here to meet me. He showed me visas, flight tickets, and even passport documents to prove she was coming. When I went to pick her up at the airport I realized when she did not arrive, perhaps I had been scammed. Now the $750 and the $1,000 is not what I owe. I only took out some of the money from a couple of loans to make pay for both of these scams. The amount I took out was $1,000 on one loan and $400 on the other.
The last debt that I have is from before I became Muslim. I am sorry to say, except that it saved my life, I became Muslim in prison. I have been Muslim for 5 years now. My debt was from before I went to prison. I was a very bad person and did many wrongs in life and one of them was accumulating a bad credit card debt. It is in the sum of a little over $3,500.
Please, can you help me with some, if not all of this debt so I may be free to focus on my Islam. I understand the importance of why we should not be in debt and I will be more careful in the future to not obtain any more debt.
A little about me. I am a full-time student in college, going into the Human Services. I learned I could be of great service to others when I was in prison and feel it is what I should do in life. I work at the local Mosque doing maintenance 2 days a week. I also have a job waiting tables at a local restaurant 3 days a week.Then, just recently, I acquired another job 1 to 2 days a week doing construction work. All this work and I am still struggling to just eat. I have been out of prison for 1 and 1/2 years and I have no family any more because they are in the drug business and I wish to stay away from this lifestyle. So, I did not have the full support of family coming out of prison. Yet I have managed to do remarkable things in my life to show that I am living a better life. I go to Jumu’ah every Friday and I even have a Zawiyah in my home. I am renting a home, rent to own which is a bit strenuous keeping up with when I have these loans to pay off. It is awful that I have to pay them off and they were for money that I did not even see. Mash Allah.
So, in all honesty my debt throughout my life comes to the figure of about$19,900. But my Imam said he would help me with the loan for $7,000 if I never got any loans ever again in my life. So, I would still be in debt of $12,900.
I would kindly appreciate help, or a reply, or advice, or references to other resources if there are any who would find it in there hearts to help me, or all of the above.

Thank you,

Jeremy Mondragon, Umar Abdul Hakim