Coronavirus Epidemic

Trillions could be injected into the economy with no tax money needed, and nothing added to the national debt.   The federal student loan program has gone horribly awry.  Before the Pandemic,  45.4 million people held federal student loans and over 80% of them were either unable to pay, or were paying but their balances were going up.  Nineteen U.S. states owe more in student loans than their entire state budgets. People over 50 years old outnumber people under 25 with student loans and owe 3 times more, despite having borrowed far less.  The default rate for 2004 students is 40%, and they took out less than a third of what today's students have to borrow.   The default rate for current borrowers will likely exceed 75%.  This is more than four times the default rate of sub-prime home mortgages.  By all reasonable metrics, this is now a catastrophically failed, and nationally threatening lending system. We do not have to take this. The President and Secretary of Education have all the authority needed to cancel all federally owned student loans- about 85% of all student debt. Nothing would be added to the national debt, and no congressional approval or appropriation is needed.  This is, by far, the least expensive, and most expedient way to inject trillions into the economy. We call on President Biden to do this in his first 100 days in office, and replace this failed lending system with a less expensive, and more state-friendly funding model for higher education in this country.  We also call on the President and Congress to return standard bankruptcy protections to ALL student loans, by executive order and through legislation. Analysts have predicted that cancelling student loans will increase GDP by over $100 billion for the next ten years, but they do not take into account the new borrowing that enable people to buy homes, start businesses, etc. This would be another $1 Trillion injected into the economy in the near and medium term.  Some experts even believe that debt cancellation is the only way to avoid a depression. This is not a partisan problem.  More than half of all student loan borrowers identify as being politically independent, or republican. "Red" states are being hurt significantly worse than "Blue" states.    Claims that cancelling loans will largely benefit people who don't need it are wrong.  All borrowers were determined to be "financially needy" as a condition for federal loans. More than 40% never graduated.   The most successful student loan borrowers tend to refinance their loans out of the federal system, so they won't benefit. Rest assured, the taxpayers will be fine.  The federal government has been profiting wildly on these loans for many years, and the Department of Education has even been making a profit on defaulted loans for decades.  On balance, the taxpayer will have very little- if any- loss when these loans are cancelled. This is YOUR PETITION.  It requires more than your signature to succeed.  Please get everyone you know to sign, paste the link to it across social media platforms, and tell your local media to report on it.  Also: Give it a boost, and follow us on Twitter. Taking all of these actions will help tremendously! THE SUCCESS OF THIS PETITION DEPENDS ENTIRELY UPON YOUR EFFORT.  PLEASE...DO YOUR PART. Join us on Facebook Petition created by Alan Collinge, founder of StudentLoanJustice.Org and author of The Student Loan Scam (Beacon Press).  

Dear Elected Official: Higher education--especially public institutions and all but the wealthiest private colleges --faces an unprecedented crisis that will have catastrophic consequences for the nation. The economic cataclysm caused by the COVID 19 pandemic is devastating state budgets, and universities are losing additional billions as they refund housing and fees.  Higher education leaders have announced drastic budget cuts, furloughs, lay-offs, and even permanent campus closures.  The stop-gap emergency relief funds universities received through the CARES legislation were woefully insufficient. Our public institutions are suffering the greatest damage.  They are already facing unprecedented losses of tens of billions of dollars, but received only $14 billion, or .7% of the April 20 CARES Act funding.  The COVID crisis is compounding the threats already facing public higher education for decades.  Over forty years of funding cuts by state legislatures and institutional reorganization had already raised tuition by 260 percent and reduced tenure track faculty positions by 50 percent.  A generation of students has been saddled with $1.6 trillion in unpayable debt, educators and researchers have faced insecure and poorly paid work, and support staff have been reduced.   If we don’t act immediately, our system of higher education will be in shambles. Universities and colleges will close or shrink, student debt will mount. We will lose the most vital economic and intellectual engines of our nation.  Our nation’s colleges and universities are uniquely positioned at this moment of crisis to help the U.S. manage the unprecedented challenge of COVID 19.  Higher education directly employs 3.6 million people, and accounts for 6.7 million jobs in the US.  Public institutions alone are currently educating 19.4 million students across the nation. The total gross output of higher education institutions due to research investments and wages accounts for $1 trillion annually.   Just as universities and colleges used infusions of GI Bill  funds and public investment to help the nation adjust to the unprecedented new conditions after World War II, higher education institutions have an important role to play in rebuilding the post-COVID 19 world.  They will provide young people with education and skills that prepare them for new careers while also driving the engine of US innovation and economic development. In many communities, colleges and universities are anchors of employment, offering stable jobs with benefits to thousands of workers. And they breathe life into our social and cultural institutions. If the government fails to act now, universities and colleges will continue to close or scale-back their operations. Many regions across the country will be devastated. We will lose an entire generation of workers and the knowledge-production we need to confront the challenges of the twenty-first century.   We need federal legislation that will guarantee that all students can afford higher education and that our institutions will provide stable employment and living wages for all of their workers.  We thereby call on the federal government to immediately:   1. Expand federal student grants for postsecondary education  2. Cancel existing student debt  3. Offer federal investment directed mostly at public institutions but also for non-elite not-for-profit private institutions targeted at:     a) lowering tuition costs for undergraduate and graduate students      b) extending PhD student funding to account for research time lost to COVID     c) converting contingent teaching positions into full-time long-term employment      d) retaining all staff and service workers  In the coming weeks and months, there will be continued calls for massive federal investment in all areas of public life.  Higher education institutions must be prioritized.  The closure of our institutions of higher education would be catastrophic to our collective future.

**UPDATE: As the Biden administration takes office, the country is deeply struggling. We’re out of work and out of cash. It took nine months for Congress to send a second stimulus check, and just moments to spend it. Another single check won’t solve our problems – people are just too far behind. Like we’ve been saying from the beginning of this pandemic, people need to know when the next check is coming. And the best thing our government can do right now is send emergency money to the people on a monthly basis. Sign to join our movement to get recurring checks to the people.  My name is Stephanie, and I am one of millions of Americans who fear for my financial future because of this coronavirus crisis. With businesses and schools closing across the country to control the spread of this virus, many people have already lost their jobs. Others are being forced to stay home. This is catastrophic for working families like mine.  I’m calling on Congress to support families with a $2,000 payment for adults and a $1,000 payment for kids immediately, and continuing regular checks for the duration of the crisis. Otherwise, laid-off workers, furloughed workers, the self-employed, and workers dealing with reduced hours will struggle to pay their rent or put food on the table. My husband and I own a restaurant in Denver and these past two weeks have been a blur. Our restaurant community is wrestling with seeing everything we all have worked so hard for irrevocably changed. Our hearts were breaking as we watched our staff divide the ingredients in our kitchen to bring to their homes: a dismal token for employees who worked tirelessly every day. Our talented and cherished team, some of whom have been with us since we opened our doors 15 years ago, are now without an income. Like our team, my family has lost all of the income from our restaurant, and business owners and the self-employed can't claim unemployment. This is the story of America right now. For our team and other Americans who can claim unemployment, even the maximum payments will not be enough for most people to continue paying their bills – and avoid slipping into poverty. The facts are, even successful small businesses can’t go months with their doors closed.  But supplying Americans with monthly support until they can get back on their feet can save our communities from financial ruin. We need immediate checks and recurring payments so that we can keep our heads above water.  Congress needs to make sure that we won’t be left financially ruined for doing our part to keep the country healthy.

We implore the United States Congress to pass legislation forgiving all remaining student debt for the heroes fighting to keep our country alive. Student debt is only one of the many burdens faced by those combating COVID-19 to save as many patients as possible, but it is one Congress has the power to ease.  Healthcare workers are putting their lives and those of their families at risk on the front lines of the international COVID-19 crisis. As a group, nurses, attending physicians, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, and resident physicians are working in uncertain, understaffed, dangerous conditions. Some have been redeployed from their usual clinical duties, many without appropriate personal protective equipment and other supplies.  We have been seeing stories of healthcare workers separated from family, depressed, anxious, working extended hours, sick, and dying. On 3/24/2020 a nurse from New York passed away from complications of COVID-19, likely contracted while working with patients, and there are more to come.  The mounting pile of student debt is an enormous weight carried by these workers, especially those who attended college and graduate school for 8+ years. For instance the average medical school graduate’s debt load now exceeds $200,000 (Source: National Center for Education Statistics).  The recently enacted CARES Act mandating a six-month freeze on interest and the option to take a break from payments on federal student loans is helpful, but does not go far enough to give assistance to those providing direct care during this pandemic.   Let’s show our support as a nation by easing the financial burden - allowing them to afford housing away from family, care for their children while they are working, medical care including mental health services, and relief from the many other extraordinary, intangible costs of providing on the front lines during this time.  Thank you for considering supporting this bill. Your constituents, those benefiting from the thankless work done by these healthcare workers every day, want to see this debt forgiven.