FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 20, 2020
CONTACT: Alexis Goldstein, alexis@ourfinancialsecurity.org

Trump administration fails to offer meaningful student debt relief

Statement from Alexis Goldstein, Senior Policy Analyst, Americans for Financial Reform:

The Trump Administration’s minor tweaks for some federal student loan borrowers are insufficient and fail to address the crisis. The Department of Education announced that borrowers with federally held student loans will have the option to suspend payments, but will need to contact their servicer in order to request it. This comes at a time when many student loan servicers are closing call centers or reducing hours, and will in fact be a serious barrier to borrowers under pressure getting the relief they desperately need. In addition, it leaves out some federal student loan borrowers whose loans are not federally held. 

We urge all lawmakers, and the Administration, to adopt the Senate Democrats plan to cancel student debt, immediately halt all involuntary collections for borrowers in default, and have the federal government pay down borrowers’ payments each month. Twenty community, civil rights, consumer, and student advocacy organizations spoke out in support of the Senate Democrats’ plan on March 19th. Anything less than the Senate Democrats plan will not provide the short and long term economic stimulus that distressed student borrowers so desperately need.