The New School is a liberal arts university based in Union Square, Manhattan. They view themselves as a radical institution that tackles social justice issues. Poverty is among these issues as well as racism and transphobia. Aside from the fact that the staff is majority white and cisgender the New School falls in line with more harmful ideas that society has when it comes to economically empowering students. The New School withholds transcripts from a student for 99 years if they owe money to the school. That student is expected to pay off the debt in 12 months and only when that debt is paid in full can a student receive their transcripts so they can finish their degree, transfer to another school, or apply for a Master's and PHD programs. In many cases students can't afford the debt and in some cases the student isn't even totally responsible for accruing the debt at all. 

THIS POLICY MUST BE CHANGED IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE:

-This policy explicitly targets low income individuals and makes it even harder for them to remove themselves from poverty.

-This policy ignores nuanced reasons that the debt was acquired and why it can't be paid. It puts money before people.

- This policy erases the lived reality of groups of students who may not have financial backing or support from family members who can help them for numerous reasons such as: they are estranged, intergenerational poverty, race, ability, and more.

-This policy punishes the most vulnerable in the academic system for something beyond their power.

-This policy does not fall in line with the values that The New School was founded on.

While The New School has a policy like this it continues to profit off of the idea that they are uplifting marginalized people and care about dismantling the various forms of privilege that haunt our society. Until low income and impoverished students stop being held back at the hands of their greed, The New School doesn't deserve the reputation it has.

Two stories about marginalized individuals who attended The New School and are impacted by the policy: 

- Basil Soper is a low income man of trans experience, southerner, and a first generation high school and college graduate. He is unable to get his MFA after the New School admittedly made a mistake that's caused him to owe $6,000 to the institution. He signed up for classes after he graduated in 2018 due to being told he might not graduate the semester he thought he was. He was granted a scholarship and financial aid. He ended up finishing his degree but taking the two classes that spiked his interest anyhow because he thought it might help with applying to MFA programs. Since nothing stopped him from enrolling or receiving aid he found out that he wasn't allowed to take these courses only after The New School removed him from the courses, returned the aid, and told Mr. Soper he'd have to pay the debt in full in order to receive his transcripts or return to the school for his MFA. After talking with the school for months and trying to create a feasible payment plan he has found out that the school is "moving in the direction of creating a student loan forgiveness policy". There isn't a timeline on when this may or may not happen. In the meantime while the institution thinks about changing the policy he must pay this debt and is not able to go back to school at this time. Mr. Soper says, "Aside from one staff member, I have been met with smug, cold, and judgemental attitudes from those who I have had to deal with in this process. They don't care about how this is impacting me and my future or care to hold their flawed and disorganized system accountable for this unfortunate situation at all."

- Haddasah GreenSky is a native american woman, musician, and visual artist. She currently lives in and grew up in Detroit. She grew up in a working class family. At 17, she became homeless and was unable to return back to her childhood home. A couple years later, her father passed away. She was enrolled in the local public university, at the time. She found herself using music classes as a coping method. That coping method became the crutch that guided her into music school to begin with. She found herself enamored by music, especially jazz. She said, "I worked my tail end off preparing for that final audition."

Haddasah also recalled, "There’s a very distinct memory of my undergrad final audition: my mom had asked if The New School thought I was good enough to get into the school and the student assistant replied “I guess it depends on how much money you have”.  For a school that has historically been about education without discrimination, it sure has become a “rich-kid only” school."

She attended The New School for Jazz for one semester before she realized that financial aid was unable to help her get the correct scholarships for the semester and had to drop out, with a considerable amount of debt. She was a nearly straight A student. She worked really, really hard in school. She loved being at a place where she could finally study what she was passionate about. She was devastated that she had to drop out. 

Haddasah has been unable to even apply to other schools to finish an undergraduate degree as transcripts from all schools are required to do this and The New School won't release hers. This has put a total halt to her studies and left her in limbo. She once had ambitions to study up to a Master’s or Doctorate degree. But she is unable to do that as The New School will not release her transcripts. 

There are many more students like Basil and Haddasah who need your help. 

Please sign this petition, share, and demand that The New School ends the policy of withholding transcripts and finalizes a debt forgiveness program for low income students immediately.