Group holds seminar to discuss if student debt has grown into ‘crisis’ status

By Charmaine Jackson
Contributing Writer

Attracting nearly 3,000 financial aid professionals, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administration (NASFAA) gathered to host a series of seminars, including a debate on whether student debt has grown to be classified as a crisis. Via text, those in attendance posed a stance on the issue, with 59 percent declaring student loan debt as a crisis, while 41 percent believe student loan debt is not a crisis.

For members and organizers of the Debt Collective, “a new membership organization that leverages collective power by offering debtors a shared platform for organization, advocacy and direct action,” student loan debt is 100 percent, a crisis. Many in the group have accumulated thousands of dollars in student loan debt, due to attending for-profit colleges, such as ITT Technical Institute, Art Institute, and Everest College, known for targeting low-income, Black communities and overcharging them to earn degrees that fail to yield them a job.

Latonya Suggs, a 2014 graduate of Everest University Online, has $40,000 in student debt. “I can’t find a job, my credit is poor—they basically put me into a debt trap,” Suggs said. With aspirations to become a probation officer, Suggs enrolled in the criminal justice program and was promised $15,000 in grant money towards tuition. She was only credited less than half of those monies. Advisors told her she could get her desired job with an associate’s degree, but later discovered a bachelor’s degree, at the minimum, was required. As a result of maxing out on her student loans, she said she could not return to college.

“I was better off not going to college,” Suggs said. “I am worst off than I was before,” she continued.

Dubbed as the 21st century debtors’ union, the Debt Collective united in the historic French Quarter to follow through with the plan: “to rain on NASFAA’s parade,” through “performative” protest. Their mission was clear and printed on hand-held fans that included a note to financial aid professionals, proposing “free higher education at all public institutions and ending student debt for good,” along with fake money. Protesters donned a red square made out of felt material, as a symbol of “debt resistance” and also served as a reminder of the victory experienced in Quebec, Canada, after students protested against the government’s proposal to charge for tuition and fees.

“They’re coming, they’re coming,” a member of the Debt Collective yelled, as the NASFAA parade approached the protestors. They quickly dispersed in different directions to remain inconspicuous. As the McMain High School marching band provided the soundtrack, members of NASFAA marched forward, throwing beads to the revelers, who were in support of NASFAA, while members of the Debt Collective, matched their festive demeanor, and weaved in and out of the procession and handed out fans. A hot and humid evening, many of the NASFAA parade participants signaled for one, not realizing the content on the fan, or the person. Random protesters began pointing, skipping, and throwing fake money in the air, chanting: “No cuts, no fees, your education should be free.”

Amy Schneider of Illinois, said she has been “pushing for education reform since 2012.” She wrote to her state senators, but “received generic responses” and felt like her plea was “falling upon deaf ears.”

As a graduate of The Art Institutes, she “took out so many loans that it didn’t measure up to the value of the education.” She was accepted into a prestigious art college, but The Art Institutes promised her a comparable education. In addition, she was told she could use the studio and equipment after graduation, but mentioned she had no access to the studio or the equipment as a student.

“Every reason that I signed up for that college was a lie,” Schneider said. “Nothing they promised me was accurate,” she added.

Nearly $80,000 in student loan debt, including a $60,000 Plus Loan that her mother applied for, to help with tuition costs. “I wasn’t able to transfer any credits, and if I dropped out, I would have had to start paying back loans right away. I was in between a rock and a hard place,” Schneider said. Since becoming an active member of the Debt Collective, she says she finally feels validated.

Dawn Lueck, Debt Collective organizer and former employee of ITT Technical Institute, wants the public to “understand the complexity around this systemic issue. Banks, the Department of Education, and executives are making significant amounts of money off the backs of students, and I think that’s a moral issue that we have to face in this country,” Lueck said.

“It’s important that we bring this conversation to the people that actually work in these schools and work within the industry, not to fault or blame them, but to invite them into a transformative conversation; a conversation that can really speak to the possibility of change.”

This article originally published in the August 3, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.