Public Employee Press

Student debt program launched

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

Visit these websites to learn more:   www.ForgiveMyStudentDebt.org This is the website of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. You can file a complaint if you’re having an issue with your lender. www.ed.gov The U.S. Dept. of Education’s website has information about several federal programs that can help. www.studentloans.gov The U.S. Dept. of Education’s database for student loans. You can apply for income-driven repayment plans through this website.

Tips on financing your college education   Before applying for a loan, consider applying for a grant, scholarship or work-study program. Set up a meeting with the financial aid officer in your school to discuss options. Federal loans are better than private loans and subsidized federal loans are better than unsubsidized federal loans. Check the fine print on loan repayment terms. Federal loan repayments, for example, begin after graduation; some private loan payments begin while you are still in school. Be careful when applying for loans to trade or for-profit schools. They may be more interested in registering students than helping them obtain an affordable loan.

The growing college debt crisis has been in the news lately and for good reason. There are 43 million people burdened by student debt. One out of every five households has someone struggling to pay their college loan.

The average debt is $30,000. The total amount owed by college students nationwide is $1.5 trillion. “And it’s getting worse,” said Chris Hicks, the campaign organizer for Jobs with Justice’s Debt-Free Future project.

What hasn’t been explained in the news very much are the dire consequences borrowers face if they default on their federal college loan. In 22 states, including New Jersey, professional and drivers’ licenses are revoked for failure to pay. As of 2007 in Montana, 92 driver’s licenses had been suspended. By 2012, Iowa had suspended 900 licenses. And in Tennessee, 1,500 people, mostly teachers, nurses’ aides and emergency medical personnel, have lost their licenses.

New Jersey and Massachusetts have laws that prevent kindergarten to 12th-grade teachers and other professions from continuing to work until they begin to repay their student loans. If you have retired and defaulted on your loan, the government can garnish your Social Security payments.

To address this issue, which affects many DC 37 members and their families, the union has launched a new program in collaboration with Jobs with Justice and AFSCME Next Wave, the national union’s project for workers under 35, to help students and their families. They organized four student debt clinics in September where Hicks shared valuable information on ways to deal with student debt.

“Not enough workers know about the repayment plans that are available,” Hicks said at the Sept. 14 meeting at DC 37.

The workshops have looked at plans to help lessen the financial burden faced by borrowers. They included income contingent repayment plans for those with Parent Plus loans, the Income-Driven Repayment Plan, the Pay As You Earn program and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

“There are only 133,000 workers who are participating in the PLSF plan, and that’s out of 33 million people who are eligible,” Hicks said.

Islyn-Chase Dillion is a member of Local 371. She works for the Human Resources Administration and attended the first clinic. A graduate of Adelphi University, she finds herself struggling to pay her student loan.

“I have two children and a mortgage to pay, and now this loan,” she said. “So I came to see how this might help me.” She is one of the 140 members who attended the four student debt clinics.

Participants in the workshops generally estimated that they would save more than $300 a month by getting help from a repayment plan.

DC 37 wants to help a lot more members. Additional clinics will be held in the fall. Interested members can check the union’s website at www.dc37.net. Click on the student debt counseling program link for dates and times of upcoming clinics.