Student Loan Debt Strikes Are the Next Logical Step

Student loan debt is crushing more than 43 million Americans and one of their highest-ranked allies says it’s time to do something about it. In an interview with Teen Vogue, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) said the time for a student loan debt strike.

“I am all in for young people to find every way humanly possible to raise their voices. The White House is making a decision now,” she said in a phone interview. “We need to be heard — all of us.”

Warren has been beating the drum of reforming student loan debt for nearly a decade, since she got to the Senate in 2013. Her first piece of proposed legislation was to lower student loan interest rates.

Candidate Joe Biden’s campaign platform on student loan debt was clear: $10,000 debt per borrower forgiven. While the administration has announced debt forgiveness for certain borrowers, no wide-spread forgiveness is on the horizon. After initially saying the the “final extension” was happening back in August, the Department of Education announced days before Christmas that student loan repayment would again be extended until May 1.

It’s obscene that politicians continue to say student loan forgiveness for only some is a campaign promise fulfilled. Student loans are drowning Americans, especially those who didn’t actually get a chance to finish any post-high school education due to their accumulating debt. One of those reasons is that loan providers are not looking out for the students. Just this month, student loan servicer Navient agreed to $1.85 billion settlement after a decade-long investigation into its predatory loan servicing practices.

In a survey last year, more than two-thirds of federal student loan borrowers said they would be financially fucked if they had to resume paying their student loans. A part of building back a better America would be wide-spread student loan debt cancellation. So bring on the student loan debt strikes, baby!