Later on today, the #OWS Empowerment & Education Working Group will launch a national campaign that will challenge and draw attention to the growing problem of student debt.
Student loan debt represents the largest portion of all "consumer" debt, and will exceed 1 trillion dollars by the end of the year. Currently, about 67% of students incur debt at the college level. In 2008, approximately 1.4 million seniors graduated with an average of about $26,000 dollars of student loan debt.
In spite of widespread use of loans to finance education, most Americans are unaware of the true nature of these loans, and some of the important issues around our pay-for-diploma education model. The layperson views student loans as a benevolent government program designed to help citizens move into the middle class by attending college. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that student loans have helped to create an education industry that now operates at the expense of our society.
Continue reading "Now is the Time to Refuse Student Debt (Part 1)" »
The Student Debt System: a Critical Juncture in the Production of Inequality
The following article contains thoughts that I would have liked to have shared on Democracy Now!, but didn't have time for. Here's the clip of the interview with the article below:
For most Americans student debt is a simple matter: you got the education, you agreed to pay for it, you can't give back your brain, so suck it up and get to work. Unfortunately, this sort of logic fundamentally misunderstands the systemic sources by which so much student debt has been incurred, and the long term inequality this debt is creating. The misunderstanding most Americans have of the student debt cycle is particularly dangerous now that the amount of education debt is about to pass the 1 trillion dollar mark, which amounts to about four thousand dollars for every man, woman and child in this country. According to the Project on Student Debt, of the class of 2008, 41% are either delinquent or in default. Many recent reports have already begun to theorize student debt as the next bubble about to burst. Unfortunately, this bubble has the potential to slowly ooze, causing unrelenting suffering for a generation, and even greater economic disparity for the 99%.
When you look carefully at the student debt crisis, you can see that it has been caused by complex relationships between four distinct types of entities: governmental agencies, lenders, educational institutions and consumers.
Continue reading "The Student Debt System: a Critical Juncture in the Production of Inequality" »
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