Student Loans

CounterSpin: Braxton Brewington On Student Loan Debt

March 12, 2022 Janine Jackson, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. Educate! Education, Media, Student Debt, Student Loans

An NBC News story headlined “White House Confronts Political Pressure to Extend Pause in Student Loan Payments Ahead of Midterms” represented much media focus on student loan debt: treating the fact that 45 million Americans owe some $1.7 trillion as an “issue,” an object of debate, a potential election factor. And that’s all true. Student loan forgiveness was one of Biden’s campaign promises. The federal pause on repayments is set to expire on May 1, and what happens with it will have an effect on the president and the party. But, of course, there’s also a much broader and deeper conversation to be had about student loans, and about debt, that hopefully will carry us beyond any particular election cycle. For an update on the current situation and our understanding of what’s at stake, we’re joined now by Braxton Brewington, press secretary and organizer at the group Debt Collective, a membership-based union for debtors and allies.

How The White House Could Wipe Out Federal Student Loan Debt

March 12, 2022 Josh Axelrod, The American Independent. Create! Education, Finance and the Economy, Joe Biden, Student Debt, Student Loans

Last week, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain hinted that President Joe Biden may soon take action on the nation's $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. Biden has several options at his disposal to aid the nation's 43 million student loan borrowers, experts told the American Independent Foundation. "The president is going to look at what we should do on student debt before the pause expires, or he'll extend the pause," Klain said on the podcast Pod Save America last Thursday. "Right now, people aren't having to pay on their loans, and so I think dealing with the executive branch question, what we should do about that, what his powers are, how much we should do on that, that's something we're going to deal with later on," Klain added.

Cancel Student Debt Now

December 18, 2021 Mike Pappas, Left Voice. Resist! Debt, Higher Education, Joe Biden, Student Loans

Student loans: many of us have them, all of us hate them. Over the past several decades, the student loan bubble has only continued to increase, now totaling around $1.7 trillion according to Federal Reserve estimates. There have been growing calls for the Biden administration to extend the moratorium on student loan repayments that has been in place since the beginning of the pandemic. Nevertheless, repayments are set to restart on February 1, 2022, at a time when over 3.3 million people in the U.S. have fallen into poverty during the pandemic; Covid-19 continues to spread throughout the US; and the Omicron variant threatens to bring a wave of new cases peaking as early as January, according to CDC estimates.

Student Loan Payments Resume Soon, But Working Borrowers Aren’t Ready

November 18, 2021 Ayelet Sheffey, Business Insider. Educate! Higher Education, Pandemic, Poverty, Student Loans

On February 1, 2022, the relief student-loan borrowers have had since the start of the pandemic will be stripped away and they will be thrown back into repayment — whether they're ready or not. And most of them are not. The Student Debt Crisis Center, in partnership with Savi — a social impact technology startup — released the results of the fourth installment of the Student Debt x COVID-19 series on Wednesday examining the impact of the pandemic on student-loan borrowers. It found that although student-loan company communication to borrowers has improved since June, 89% of fully-employed borrowers say they do not feel financially secure enough to resume payments in a few months. One in five of the respondents said they will never feel financially-secure enough to restart their student-loan payments.

Biden To Review Executive Authority To Cancel Student Debt

April 3, 2021 Lauren Egan, NBC News. Educate! Department of Education, Joe Biden, Student Debt, Student Loans

Washington, DC - President Joe Biden has asked Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to prepare a memo about his legal authority to cancel student debt, chief of staff Ron Klain said Thursday, as pressure grows for the administration to address the student loan crisis crippling millions of Americans. Klain said in an interview with Politico that Biden will decide how to proceed once he reviews the memo, which could be sent to his desk in the next few weeks. "He'll look at that legal authority, he'll look at the policy issues around that, and then he'll make a decision," Klain said. "He hasn't made a decision on that either way. In fact, he hasn't yet gotten the memos that he needs to start to focus on that decision."

We Can Win Student Loan Debt Cancellation

March 29, 2021 Umme Hoque, Commondreams. Organize! Debt, Higher Education, Joe Biden, Student Loans

On March 18, the Biden administration's Department of Education announced that it will cancel $1 billion in federal student loan debt held by 72,000 borrowers who were defrauded by for-profit universities. These students received subprime educations and worthless degrees, and then were burdened with debt often in the tens of thousands of dollars—all while predatory companies and their investors made millions. The only reason this debt is now being cancelled is because debtors got organized. In 2015, students from for-profit, now defunct Corinthian Colleges Inc. launched the country's first student debt strike, refusing to pay their loans because they had been scammed by their school.

Secretary Devos Denies Students’ Rights To Full Debt Cancellation

December 13, 2019 Staff, Predatorystudentlending.org Educate! Higher Education, Student Loans

BOSTON –United States Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced that she will deny full student loan cancellation to student borrowers who were cheated by their colleges and applied to have their federal loans cancelled. This announcement comes despite defrauded students’ legal right to have their loans fully cancelled as a result of their school’s misconduct. The Department’s action sends hundreds of thousands of student borrowers into the holiday season with the fear that their bogus loans may not be discharged and that they may face collections from the Department of Education.

Debt To Society

June 10, 2019 Mark Huelsman, Demos.org Create! Education, New Economy, Reform, Student Loans

Americans believe that every qualified student—regardless of their color, gender, or financial situation—should be able to pursue their educational dreams, and that no one should face massive financial pain simply because they decided to get an education. Yet over the past several decades, state and federal policymakers have failed to adequately address the rising cost of college, respond to an increased demand for higher education, or ensure that students’ families have adequate resources to save for the future or deal with unexpected financial emergencies.

US Student Loan Debt Hits Record $1.46 Trillion. Funny, That’s More Than GOP’s Corporate-Friendly Tax Giveaway

December 29, 2018 Jon Queally, Commondreams.org Create! Debt, Student Loans

It's been almost a year since the Republican Party and President Donald Trump delivered their behemoth giveaway to the nation's corporations and wealthiest individuals by passing a $1.5 trillion controversial tax bill that will ultimately blow a $5 trillion hole—or larger—in the nation's budget. On Monday morning, Bloomberg reported that the amount of U.S. student loan debt has more than doubled since 2009 and now sits at a record $1.47 trillion. That's interesting. Those numbers are very similar in size. Meanwhile, also on Monday morning, Forbes noted how—due to the fraudulent practices of for-profit colleges and under orders from a federal court...

Nation’s Top Student Loan Official Resigns

August 29, 2018 Ken Sweet, Apnews.com Educate! Education, Higher Education, Student Loans

NEW YORK (AP) — The government’s top official overseeing the $1.5 trillion student loan market resigned in protest on Monday, citing what he says is the White House’s open hostility toward protecting the nation’s millions of student loan borrowers. Seth Frotman will be stepping down as student loan ombudsman at the end of the week, according to his resignation letter , which was obtained by The Associated Press. He held that position since 2016, but has been with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since its inception in 2011. Frotman is the latest high-level departure from the CFPB since Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s budget director, took over in late November. But Frotman’s departure is especially noteworthy, since his non-partisan office is one of the few parts of the U.S. government that was tasked with handling student loan issues.

Could Student Loans Lead To Debt Prison? The Handwriting On The Wall

April 20, 2018 Alan Nasser, Counterpunch.org Educate! Debt, Prison, Student Loans

The burden weighing like a nightmare, to coin a phrase, on 44 million indebted current and former students will haunt these people for a good portion of their lives. The average student debtor graduates owing close to $34,000 and is projected to spend 21 years paying it off. At present, the average monthly payment for those between 30 and 40 years old is $351.00. It is not uncommon for repayment obligations to be borne by underwriters of these loans, typically the primary borrower’s parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Taking these co-signers into consideration, we have about 100 million people adversely affected, directly or indirectly, by the difficulty very many have repaying these loans. Because it is hard to have loans dismissed or renegotiated on the grounds of undue hardship, cases like the following are numerous

This Is US: Student Debt Devours Young And Old

February 11, 2018 Lynn Petrovich, End the Illusion. Educate! Banking and Finance, Student Debt, Student Loans

Over the past decade, through tax preparation work – both pro bono and paid - I’ve seen many student loan borrowers who, like Monica, have struggled not only to make ends meet, but also try to understand what’s happening with regard to their student loans. I’ve watched as refundable credits in the thousands of dollars have been seized by federal and state agencies year after year to pay for student loan debt.

11 Percent Of Student Borrowers Are In Default

December 6, 2017 Drew Cloud, studentloans.net Educate! Debt, Student Loans

By Drew Cloud for Student Loan Report - The national student loan default rate is now over 11 percent, and the total outstanding student debt shows no signs of shrinking any time soon. When you think about the 44 million+ borrowers with student loan debt, that default rate is a little more frightening. Millions of borrowers throughout the United States are not making payments and are digging themselves into a hole that is not easy to get out of. Without even considering the issues caused by defaulting, student loan debt causes plenty of other problems. Many graduates move back home because they can’t afford to buy a new home as they can't afford rent or mortgage payments. Student debtors are also pushing off their family plans as well. It’s hard to pay for a wedding and a child when a significant part of your income goes towards your student debt each month. These are common problems experienced by student loan borrowers who are successfully paying their loans. Borrowers in default have even more issues to consider, such as the impact on their credit. Defaulting on a student loan right out of college can wreck someone’s credit report, and this will only cause difficulty down the road whenever applying for a mortgage, credit card, auto loan, or anything else that requires credit. It’s no secret that student loans cause problems for graduates. But, why exactly is this happening? Who’s to blame?

U.S. Women Disproportionately Burdened By College Debt

June 15, 2017 Lauren Kaori Gurley, www.alternet.org Educate! New Economy, Student Debt, Student Loans

By Lauren Kaori Gurley for AlterNet - American women owe nearly twice as much of the nation’s $1.3 trillion in student loan debt as men do, according to a recent study. Since the 1950s, major strides have been made to shrink the gender gap in enrollment at American colleges and universities, and today, women make up 57 percent of college students in the United States. But despite these gains, women face disproportionate burdens when it comes to student loan debt—a lifelong economic disadvantage that can weigh down graduates for decades after they’ve earned their degrees. The student loan debt crisis is frequently cited as one of the primary reasons millennials are waiting longer than previous generations to move out of their parents’ homes, have children and get married. According to an American Association of University Women study, women are facing these challenges at higher rates than men. The reasons behind this discrepancy stem from a number of interrelated factors, including the unremitting gender wage gap. Today, women earn 10 percent less than men when taking into account factors including occupation, experience and education.

Women Hold Nearly Two-Thirds Of America’s Student Loan Debt

May 26, 2017 Catherine Pearson, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Student Loans, Women

By Catherine Pearson for The Huffington Post - Are you a college-educated woman who is being buried under a pile of student loan debt that devours your paychecks and gives you heart palpitations at 2:30 a.m.? Well, take heart — at least you’re not alone! According to a depressing new report released this week by the American Association of University Women, women hold nearly two-thirds of this country’s student debt ― or a whopping $833 billion in outstanding loans. (And that’s probably a low-ball estimate, because the report doesn’t capture women who enroll and take on a whole lot of debt but don’t graduate.) Oh, and female graduates also have a significantly harder time paying those loans off ― making it clear that the student loan crisis is now most definitely a women’s issue. “Time spent in college now sometimes means unmanageable student debt that drags down those seeking greater opportunity, especially low-income women, women of color, and women who drop out before completing a degree or credential,” Patricia Fae Hoe, board chair of the AAUW ― an advocacy and research group ― wrote in a forward to the report.

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