Educators Pen Open Letter on Student Debt Reform

Educators – from high schools to universities – are adding their names to the growing list sounding the alarm on the college student debt crisis.

Seventy-three educators signed an open letter decrying predatory loans that have disproportionately placed a higher financial burden on families of color.

“… The cost of financing every dollar of these loans increased (over the last decade) — with the most disadvantaged students paying more but getting less,” the letter states.  “Who could have imagined that the student loan crisis would widen the black-white wealth gap? Education was supposed to close it. Who could have foreseen couples delaying their decision to marry, or giving up on it altogether, because of their student loan debt? Who would have described a student loan in the same terms as a payday one, with hidden fees and no way out, in the days when student loans were manageable?”

Representatives from all levels at high schools, community colleges, and public and private universities signed the letter, including CFA Member Anthony S. Alvarez from CSU Fullerton and former CFA president Lillian Taiz of CSU Los Angeles.

Student loan debt is pegged at $1.5 trillion in 2019, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.

As state and federal financial support for public higher education has dropped, tuition and housing/food/textbook costs have skyrocketed much faster than inflation.  Students should have access to the same education without taking on mounds of debt that previous generations were afforded.

Supporters are asking other educators to add their name here to advocate “for a more just and prosperous future for those entrusted to our classrooms.”