Tag Archives: Student Lending

a student raises their hand in a classroom Photo by Felicia Buitenwerf on Unsplash

Sign-on letter: 69 orgs call for canceling student debt to tackle economic fallout

Today, 69 community, civil rights, consumer, and student advocacy organizations sent a letter to House and Senate leadership, urging them to include student debt cancellation in the next coronavirus package.  The letter also calls on leadership to extend the suspension of payments on federal student loans through March 2021, as current estimates indicate that the economy will not recover to pre-virus levels until the third quarter of 2021.

photo of a student borrower looking sadly at the sky - Photo by Matese Fields on Unsplash

News Release: The CARES Act fails to provide sufficient relief to federal student loan borrowers

The 43 million federal student loan borrowers are not getting meaningful relief from the CARES Act. It leaves an estimated 9 millions of federal student loan borrowers without any relief at all, does not guarantee that borrowers won’t face large principals when they return to repayment, and doesn’t include cancelling student debt, a move that both provides crucial relief to distressed borrowers and stimulates a fast-contracting economy. 

photo of a student borrower looking sadly at the sky - Photo by Matese Fields on Unsplash

News Release: Trump administration fails to offer meaningful student debt relief

The Trump Administration’s minor tweaks for some federal student loan borrowers are insufficient and fail to tackle 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 requires effort on the part of borrowers who are already under stress. This is coming at a time when many student loan servicers are closing call centers or reducing hours. Worse still, it leaves out some federal student loan borrowers whose loans are not federally held. 

a student with books - Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Joint Statement: Student Borrower Advocates Praise Senate Democrats’ Plan to Cancel Federal Student Debt

The 20 undersigned community, civil rights, consumer, and student advocacy organizations applaud the Senate Democrats’ student debt cancellation proposal. The plan will take decisive action to get immediate and impactful relief to millions of Americans. It will enable many economically distressed borrowers to focus on their own personal safety and that of others, while also freeing up extra dollars they can use to put back into the economy.