Student Loans

​My last post covered my experience investigating a scam, and as I was writing it, I came to the conclusion that there is not much difference between a scammer and a bad contract. In many cases, the current state of higher education is an example of a bad contract.

Today I wanted to discuss and provide some resources to mitigate an issue that is facing many of my friends across all disciplines, student loans. With the disheartening continuation of corrupt practices in much of higher education, I think it’s important that we look out for each other and stand together against it. A big part of doing that is communicating ways for people to hold on to their money in the face of unjust debt. We should not be afraid to discuss our situation and share any knowledge/resources we’ve found. In this post, I’ll be taking a look at the deeper causes of this problem, the best repayment plan you can get registered for to save money, and a growing movement that is fighting to get this situation resolved. 

This is, of course, not financial advice. I’m not an expert. I’m simply sharing my own experiences and what I’ve done to try and get a handle on my loans.
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The Elephants in the Room

For many people, especially those who opted out of the higher education path, or even for those who were lucky enough to be able to avoid taking out loans for their education, I understand that it can seem unreasonable for people who agreed to take on debt to now want to be excused from paying it back. However, the reality of schooling that many of us ended up experiencing was nowhere near worth the amount we were asked to pay. In fact, many of these institutions actively misrepresented their value, and students took out loans in exchange for experiences that were less than enjoyable, if not outright harmful. Beyond that, this issue is bigger than each individual student’s debt. There’s a deeper problem at play.

It shouldn’t have to be said, but: Those who were forced to take on loans for an education because they couldn’t afford it are not any less intelligent than those who didn’t. They also aren’t any more deserving to be saddled with debt because they decided to pursue an education when others didn’t. They are victims. And to be honest, those who were turned away by the prospect of loans are victims too. Education being this expensive is a crisis. Charging this much for something that should be accessible to all is a scam.

Image source: www.msnbc.com

There’s another group of people who don’t want debt canceled, and this group I have less sympathy for. You might recognize them, they’re the beneficiaries of PPP loan forgiveness that the government dished out during the COVID pandemic. You might have heard some of these names before: “Reps. Vern Buchanan of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, and Markwayne Mullin and Kevin Hern of Oklahoma.” (nbcnews.com) All of these representatives have spoken out against the prospect of forgiving student loans. “Greene, who said on Newsmax that ‘it’s completely unfair’ for student loans to be forgiven, had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven. Kelly, who tweeted that Biden's move was poised to benefit ‘Wall Street advisors’ at the cost of ‘plumbers and carpenters,’ had $987,237 forgiven. Buchanan, who according to the White House had more than $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven, tweeted that Biden’s move was ‘reckless’ and a ‘unilateral student loan giveaway.’” (nbcnews.com)

I wonder, does anyone reading have $2.3 million in student loans? Mind you, these loans were taken out well past the age of 18… They should really know better, right? The idea that our loans can’t be forgiven is laughable. I urge you to look into any representative arguing against loan forgiveness. This is not an uncommon backstory.

But that’s not all! These hypocritical politicians actually have someone in their corner egging them on. You know those lovely loan servicers that you wait on hold for 3 hours with? They actually pay the hypocrites to vote against loan forgiveness. “Student-loan companies spent nearly $4.5 million on lobbying efforts last year [2021], according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign-finance and lobbying data. The industry lobbied against student-loan payment pauses during the pandemic, along with student-debt issues in Biden's COVID-19 stimulus package last year. In 2020, the industry spent about $4 million on lobbying.” (businessinsider.com) ​Even worse, the top recipients of some of this money is incredibly alarming. “Biden was the top recipient of contributions from student-loan companies in 2020, with $38,535, followed by his opponent, former President Donald Trump, who got $25,716.” (businessinsider.com)

Image source: opensecrets.org

In the U.S., this is called “lobbying” but anywhere else, or at any other time in history, this is called, “corruption”. I highly recommend taking a look at OpenSecrets for more details on some of the exact companies who are participating in this corruption.

​So isn’t that heartening! There’s major corporate interest in keeping you buried in debt, struggling to make ends meet. They make money, their whole careers, off of people’s debt–off of your debt. Pat yourself on the back, you’re a major employer! Now do you see why this is a bigger problem?
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What Can We Do?

Image Source: debtcollective.org

You might now be even more pessimistic about getting out of this debt, but worry not! There are a couple little tiny baby candles of hope!

The most immediate thing that I have personally done is getting onto the SAVE plan for any federal loans you may have. This plan sets a low monthly payment based on your income (which can be as low as $0), and then as long as you make these “payments”, all accrued interest over the period of the month is forgiven. Essentially this could allow you some breathing room without stressing about the total amount of loans snow-balling out of control. You can apply here. 
**Just a little heads up, a recent injunction from a federal court has blocked the functioning of the SAVE plan. However, I would still consider submitting an application in case they resume once this injunction gets resolved.**

Another action you can take is being spearheaded by an organization called The Debt Collective, the nation’s first debtors union. “The Debt Collective has its roots in the Occupy Wall Street movement. In 2012, some of the founders of the Debt Collective helped write the Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual and launch the Rolling Jubilee, a mechanism for purchasing portfolios of people’s debt on secondary debt markets — and canceling it. Using crowdfunded donations, the Rolling Jubilee abolished more than $32 million of medical, student, payday loan, and probation debt.” (debtcollective.org) In their effort to help organize and unify folks with student loans, they have created the “Student Debt Release Tool”. This tool allows you to easily draft a letter to the Department of Education to demand that they use their authority to cancel our debt. By joining in this collective demand, you’re given a chance to strengthen your request by amplifying it alongside millions of others.

​You can check out this link to learn more about the tool and the organization.

With all of us standing together, even with corporate interest against us, we can get out of this mess. It’s time for these vultures to start looking for other jobs… Until next time, thank you for reading, and happy jamming!