“ To minimize the harm to the next generation and help narrow the racial and gender wealth gaps, bold and immediate action is needed to protect student loan borrowers, including Parent PLUS borrowers, by cancelling existing debt.” “Before the COVID-19 public health crisis began, student debt was already a drag on the national economy, weighing heaviest on Black and Latinx communities, as well as women,” says the letter. What is Cancellation?Ĭancellation of federal student loan debt-that is the money that students borrowed from the federal government to pay their tuition-would stimulate the economy, promote racial justice, and help Americans out of the pandemic’s economic depression, advocates said. "Breathe," wrote Indiana teacher Tisha Bowman-Ashby. "My mom could finally retire," wrote Nickie French, a Kentucky teacher whose 65-year-old mother still helps pay French's student loan payments. "Save for retirement" and "Buy a car!" write others. My husband and I could finally buy a home, writes one teacher. Absolutely everything," wrote Emily Neal, a St. Later, when NEA asked its Twitter followers what " student debt forgiveness would mean to you," the responses poured in. This week, more than 235 civil rights, health, student advocacy, and labor organizations, including the National Education Association, sent a letter to Biden, asking him to do exactly that. “If we could get some relief, it would make such a difference,” she says-not just to her, but to the teaching profession as a whole.įor Kriedel and other educators, immediate relief could be provided through federal student debt cancellation, an option available to President-elect Joe Biden on the first day of his new administration. “Even before COVID, there were 40 percent fewer people graduating from teacher education programs,” notes Kriedel, who told her own children to pick a different career path. Debt cancellation would honor the decades of financial sacrifice that educators make to serve students, and also help to recruit and retain future teachers into the profession, educators say. For teachers, who are paid less than similarly educated professionals, it’s a particular burden, and it’s especially severe for teachers of color who often borrow more to pay for college. I literally get panic attacks when I have to renew my income-based repayment plan each year because I’m afraid it’s going to go up,” says Kriedel, who has worked in public schools for more than 17 years and also serves as her local union president.Īcross the nation, Americans owe a collective $1.7 trillion in student debt, a number that far exceeds credit card debt or home mortgages. What would it mean to Las Vegas teacher Vicki Kriedel to have her college debt canceled? It would mean the 57-year-old, who has sacrificed her financial health for decades, could help her own children with their college costs, travel home more often to California to visit her elderly parents, and not feel sick when she thinks about the money she borrowed to pay to become a teacher.
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