The Benefits of Student Debt Relief
According to a new
study on student
debt, “Following debt relief, distressed borrowers reduce their
indebtedness by 26 percent and are 11 percent less likely to default
on other accounts. After the discharge, the borrowers’ geographical
mobility and probability of changing jobs increase. Ultimately, their
income increases by about $3,000 over a three-year period.”
- Why this matters:
“Higher ed experts tend to think about student debt in isolation. But
it’s part of a larger web of burdens on borrowers,” says Roosevelt
Fellow Julie Margetta Morgan. “Removing this one burden has
downstream effects.” Read more from Inside
Higher Ed.
Its Burden on Black
Students
How It Can Curb the Racial
Wealth Gap
“We believe that in order to
address the Black student debt crisis, we need to eliminate racial
wealth inequality. Why? Because Black-white disparities in
student loan debt are deeply rooted in racial wealth
disparities,” Roosevelt Senior Fellow William “Sandy” Darity
and Fenaba Addo of the University of Wisconsin-Madison say in the
Washington Post. “Lack of resources to pay for college costs
means students need to borrow more, and issues with repayment of debts
highlight persistent financial constraints upon leaving
school.” Read
more.
Historic
Congressional
Hearing
On Tuesday, the House Committee on
Financial Services held its first hearing solely dedicated to the
racial and gender wealth gaps in the US. Citing Roosevelt’s
Rewrite
the Racial Rules report and research from Roosevelt Fellows Darrick Hamilton and
Sandy Darity, expert testimonies underscored the need for structural
policy change. As Roosevelt Fellow Andrea Flynn tweeted, “Systemic problems require
[that] systems change, not
tinkering around the edges expecting families to solve the problems
that were not their own making.” Watch
here.
Cancelling Student
Debt
“The burden of student debt on the family is
new, and it’s not inevitable. By socializing the cost, we can upend
the system: It’s time to enact free college and wipe
out student debt,” Roosevelt
Fellow Mike Konczal writes for The Nation.
Read
on.
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