239 organizations signed a letter to President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris, calling on them to use executive authority to cancel federal student debt on day one of their administration. The letter was led by Americans for Financial Reform, the Center for Responsible Lending, Demos, the National Consumer Law Center, and Student Borrower Protection Center.
77 organizations call on Education Secretary DeVos to extend the federal student loan suspension Today, 77 community, civil rights, consumer, and student advocacy organizations sent a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, urging her to extend the suspension of payments on federal student loans through September
We applaud Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Resolution calling on the Trump Administration to cancel student debt. Cancelling student debt will provide both immediate financial relief to millions of Americans, and crucial economic stimulus for everyone during this protracted crisis — boosting GDP and job creation at a time of intense labor shocks and economic contraction.
For over 45 years, the disparate impact doctrine has allowed people to chip away at policies that have a discriminatory effect even if there is no intent to discriminate. When the need to address systemic racism is so urgent, and the costs of failing to do so are so devastating, HUD has chosen to finalize a rule that effectively dismantles this essential tool for fighting injustice.
On July 28, Americans for Financial Reform joined 55 other organizations in submitting a letter to Senate leadership in opposition to the Safely Back to School and Back to Work Act, released as a part of the HEALS Act. Young Invincibles led this effort with Americans for
“Rep. Adams’ amendment gives borrowers a chance to recover on the same timeline the economy is projected to need to return to pre-coronavirus productivity. Granting the same CARES Act suspension of student loan payments to private student loan borrowers, and extending the suspension to September 2021 will mean more funds for food, medicine, and basic household needs.”
“Rep. Dean’s amendment would put borrowers and their families on stronger financial footing and accelerate the economic recovery. Providing up to $10,000 in immediate assistance to pay down a private student loan offers much-needed and long-term relief to the 6 million private student loan borrowers who were left out of the CARES Act entirely.”
“Even in a government full of people without the integrity, will or courage to do the right thing, most of the agencies stand down — or at least pretend to — when ordered by the courts. But not the Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos, who seems to have been only further animated by her losses in court over her efforts to deny the rightful debt cancellations owed to people who attended predatory, for-profit colleges, borrowers who are disproportionately women and people of color, and often now working in front-line jobs.”
Today, 103 civil rights, consumer and advocacy organizations and think tanks sent a joint letter to House and Senate leadership, urging them to include student debt cancellation in the next economic stimulus package.
Led by American for Financial Reform, Demos, Center for Responsible Lending and Freedom to Prosper, the letter stresses the ways that if left unaddressed, the student debt trap will deepen our current recession, slow our economic recovery, exacerbate inequality, and deepen a crisis already facing black and brown borrowers and families.
Over 100 organizations sent a letter to House and Senate leadership urging them to include student debt cancellation in the next coronavirus package.