It May Help

I feel like for the last year or so, I've signed a petition every day.  Maybe I'm geting cranky in my old age, but when it comes to stuff that matters to me and there's a petition, I like to add my name to it.  So even if it makes a small difference, I encourage everyone to sign the petition asking the Senate to support Elizabeth Warren's Student Loan Fairness Act.  This is obviously very personal for me, and I know it is for many of my readers as well.  I don't want a handout-- these loans are my responsibility, but I just want to be able to actually pay them back!

Currently, three of my biggest loans have an interest rate of 6.5%, which means that even paying far more than the minimum every month, they barely reduce in amount.  My savings account has an interest rate of .75%.  It's a hamster wheel!!

Anyway, the petitition is here, and it explains more about what the bill would do, but here's the crux of it:

The underlying message of Senator Warren's legislation is powerful and to the point. We bailed out the big banks. Why then deny students who weren't responsible for wrecking our economy the same deal we give the banks? Students shouldn't be forced to pay interest rates almost nine times higher than the biggest banks get at the discount window at the Federal Reserve.³

Since 1999, the average student loan debt has increased by 511%.⁴ That's a five-fold increase in just 13 years! Student loans have now become "the 21st century version of indentured servitude."⁵ With unemployment still unacceptably high and millions of recent college graduates out of work or underemployed, the last thing we should be doing is making matters worse by letting their interest rate double, adding further financial stress on students and their families.