Today, November 21, Occupy Student Debt is launching a national campaign of student debt refusal. This will take place at Zuccotti Park at the "big red sculpture" at 1:30 p.m. to be followed by a CUNY/Baruch student rally at Madison Square Park at 3:00 p.m.
A concise list of cures for the problem of student debt -- now approaching one trillion dollars and surpassing credit card debt -- was fashioned by the student debt subcommittee of the OWS Empowerment and Education working group.
Many will see this as a tectonic shift in how America approaches its treatment of students, the debt they incur and the entire process of funding higher education.
Billed as a "necessary response to the student debt crisis and the dependency of U.S. higher education on debt-financing from the people it is supposed to serve," they submit that "There is no justice in a system that openly invites profiteering on the part of lenders. Education is a right and a public good, and it should be properly funded as such."
The campaign consists of three pledges that come out of what they describe as the "four fundamental principles." First, the pledge:
Then, the underpinning of four fundamental principles (they emphasize that these are not demands):
Wow.
Invited by the New School Occupiers yesterday to explain the pledge and its purpose and ramifications, the committee admitted to the likelihood of expected "blowback" to the campaign. The group was told that earlier exploratory online postings regarding the campaign had already attracted "trolls" -- paid operatives or partisan hacks who post negative comments to make it look like popular opinion is against progressive ideas.
Whatever the public reaction and response, the committee members were clear in the work they put into the moral/financial framework, and that campuses around the country will join them in staging events to continue and propel the launch.
Any number of constituencies will find this campaign to be less than welcome. One Trillion Dollars in student debt did not happen on its own, and we have to ask ourselves -- exactly who are the beneficiaries? What political horse-trading was done, and by whom?
You can be sure that if the goal of 1,000,000 student signers to this petition is reached, that these questions, and stronger ones, are going to be asked of for-profit colleges, Fannie Mae,Wall Street bankers, overpaid administrators and even debt buyers and collection agencies.
Thanks to Occupy Student Debt, expect a lot of headlines to be occupied by this bold move by advocates and supporters who want to prevent the graduating class to go directly into the indentured class.
(For complete details, visit: www.occupystudentdebtcampaign.org. On Twitter, follow @StdntDebtPledge.)
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Curtis Arnold: Premium Credit Cards: Golden Goose or Golden Noose?
By not paying your student loans, you are screwing yourself out of credit. I bet you most of the people have credit cards. When someone starts to default on payments and the credit card company, bank, etc won't accept their applications for credit, and existing credit cards will have their limits lowered and rates raised because that person is now a high risk customer.
This is also going to hurt the co-signer's credit, so parents would either have to pay the bill or have their credit affected.
This just isn't a smart initiative.
Although employers may be on to something, since these days high school graduates are more under-educated than they have ever been. Our public schools are so strapped for cash that they are failing clamorously. In the wake of this failure, the majority of colleges are compelled to pick up the slack, giving freshmen and sophomore students an education that would have been considered remedial by earlier standards.
In short, students are now paying for the education they should have gotten free in high school. What was once a free service for all, has become pay-to-learn.
Perhaps nobody is holding a gun to students' heads when they sign off on those loans. But considering their other options -job insecurity and a life of merely scraping by- one can hardly blame their choice.
Kudos to all students with the bravery to stand up to the money lenders! Your movement will grow and grow. And with numbers, everything is possible!
But with no jobs, it doesn't matter what a young person studies, they still get screwed with no or low wages and high debt.
Some people don't yet know all the details but I'm sure they'd be outraged if they knew more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Binford_M/occupy-student-debt-campaign_n_1106379_119573539.html
If people can't find jobs with a bachelor's degree, then they aren't doing something right.
Also, what receptionist job requires a masters? I don't believe that one for a second.
The biggest regret that I have had in raising my children is that I sheltered them from heavy responsibility while they were growing up. Their father and I paid for their education, several vehicles and pretty much any financial needs that they had through their college career. They are now one of the many 'entitled' in their minds. They do not seem to have the skill set necessary to work hard for their wants and needs. They take on debt because we didn't train them well on how to save.
In my humble opinion, the solution is not to forgive them of their 'sins', but to teach them how to manage their financial future and how to take responsibility for their decisions. And most importantly, how to plan and prepare for a future that meets their needs and wants.
Remember, the lessons that we teach them now may very well be reflected in how they treat others when they get older.
Let's just say that I am making sure that I am setup to take care of myself in my Golden Years; because those people that are only concerned about their needs will certainly not be looking out for mine.
The argument that debt forgiveness will depress the economy by shifting the burden onto taxpayers is misguided. Student debt already places a massive burden on the economy by removing a huge chunk of wages during exactly the years young people should be buying houses and starting businesses. The lost tax revenue must be huge. You may recall that debt forgiveness was actually proposed as an economic stimulus in 2008.
Increasing numbers of students are defaulting anyway. The most recent figures showed that of students who had entered repayment in 2009, 8.8% had defaulted by the end of 2010 (http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pub_view.php?idx=780). Default destroys your credit score, so nobody is doing it out of laziness. If such huge numbers of graduates are already taking this disastrous step, I believe it's right - urgent, in fact - to start this conversation.
If stockholders of the bank object, they have legal standing to do something about it if they so care. You and I have no control over this. Priorities? Right now, Obama is more interested in Health Care than Education. I have no preference what is done and am only explaining the consequences of what reneging of student loan interest.
On a more personal note, I think it's very sad people find themselves compelled to take on enourmous student debt in order to get jobs. Unfortunately, with the economy the way it is, those people more and more are finding economic opportunities lacking. Combine that with with high home prices and stagnant wages and it seems like many young couples are forced to delay starting the families they would like to have - truly and unfortunate burden we are placing on the today's generation of young people. Surely, we can do better.
Thanks to Occupy Wall Street for bringing people together from different sides of the political aisle to dream of solutions. If going to the moon is possible, surely we can figure out a way to support our young people.
http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3