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The Cancel Student Debt Campaign Launches Today

Nov 7, 2019

——  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — 11/7/2019  ——

Alan Minsky, Executive Director – Progressive Democrats of America | Press Release

 

The Campaign is a coalition of organizations and individuals
committed to fighting for universal student debt cancellation

 

Currently, more than 46 million Americans are holding 1.6 trillion dollars in student debt;  and before today there was no mass movement to represent their interests.

Now, a broad coalition has come together to form The Cancel Student Debt Campaign.  Founding organizations include Freedom to Prosper, Progressive Democrats of America, The Debt Collective, Social Security Works, Our Revolution, and a wide array of state and regional undergraduate and graduate student organizations and faculty groups – already representing millions of Americans.

The Campaign is committed to fighting for the only just resolution to this severe national crisis – universal student  debt cancellation.

With today’s launch, the Campaign will reach out to every  constituency in the country to join its ranks because the student debt crisis impacts all Americans negatively, whether directly or indirectly. This catastrophic debt load is strangling the American economy, severely limiting the rebirth of America as an equitable, middle class society.

There is a growing academic consensus around universal student debt cancellation as the best solution to the crisis; one that will generate millions of new jobs, spark the creation of countless new businesses and create a boom in first-time home ownership. Please review the literature on the subject at the Levy Institute website; by Roosevelt Institute Fellow Julie Morgan; Harvard ALI Fellows Mary and Steven Swig; the writings of economists Marshall Steinbaum and Darrick Hamilton; and journalist Richard Eskow.

The Cancel Student Debt Campaign supports universal student debt cancellation as modelled in The Student Debt Cancellation Act of 2019 (H.R. 3448) and The College For All Act of 2019 (S. 1947).

Today, the Campaign is dropping off letters in support of the House and Senate Bills on Capitol Hill and to hundreds of Congressional offices across the country: http://tiny.cc/CancelStudentDebt

We also launched an online petition today in support of universal student debt cancellation in general; and H.R. 3448 and S. 1947, in particular: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/cancel-the-debt/   

In the coming months, we will continue to expand our ranks, raise consciousness on the issue, grow support for The Student Debt Cancellation legislation, and build towards a Day of National Mobilization for Student Debt Cancellation in the spring of 2020 – when we will deliver our petition to the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader, and the White House against a back-drop of rallies across the country.

CONTACTS:

Meleiza Figueroa –  melfig@berkeley.edu, 323-447-2702 – National Coordinator, Cancel Student Debt Campaign

Alan Minsky – alan@pdamerica.org, 818-749-9497 – National Grassroots Coordinator, Freedom to Prosper; Executive Director, Progressive Democrats of America

Ann Larson – ann@debtcollective.org, 917-292-5401 – Co-Founder, The Debt Collective

Cesar Aguilar – cesar@azstudents.org, 602-579-0969 – Executive Director, Arizona Student Association

Paco Fabian – paco@ourrevolution.com, 202-412-9969 – Director of Campaigns, Our Revolution

1 Comment

  1. Laura Avant

    I am 76 years old and have a $526,000 student debt from my MSSW degree. I had hoped to have it forgiven through socially responsible work but just now found a job after searching for years. I don’t need this burden to worry me forever since my focus was on abused children and would help society by helping them heal if I had been able to find work in the field.

    We need to have our student loans forgiven so we can work, save, and survive.

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