Elizabeth Warren urges expanded student loan debt relief amid 'crisis' in Fall River

FALL RIVER — Sen. Elizabeth Warren told a crowd of educators that, in her day, she was able to get a college education for $50 a semester.

“You could pay for college on a part-time job and not have to take on debt,” Warren said.

The American Federation of Teachers and the Student Borrower Protection Center hosted a debt relief clinic on Tuesday at Kuss Middle School, where Warren promoted relief from burdensome college loans by using programs promoted by the Biden-Harris administration.

“The shift from my life to yours has been, to get the education that you need to do the work that needs to be done, people are taking on mountains of debt,” Warren said. “And ultimately those mountains fall over on them and they’re getting crushed.”

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Sen. Warren says America is in a 'student debt crisis'

The clinic provided information for AFT members and other educators on how to manage their student loans and enroll in debt relief or cancellation programs.

Warren was joined by AFT President Randi Weingarten, who leads the union of more than 1.7 million members, made up of educators from early childhood to college. In Fall River, the AFT represents school aides, paraprofessionals and support staff.

She said people paying for college today have been burdened, not just by debt, but by unfair expectations based on previous generations’ experience.

“We have said for years, to everybody, ‘Go to college, go to college. College is your ticket to success,’” Weingarten said. “Frankly, we probably overplayed college and didn’t do enough about rethinking schooling and high school, and how you create other kinds of pathways to good middle-class jobs.”

She said within recent decades, the cost of college has risen astronomically.

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“It’s really different now,” Weingarten said. “And the barriers are huge.”

Warren said between 1980 and 2020, the cost of college increased 180% while wages have been stagnant.

According to published reports, more than 43 million people nationally owe $1.6 trillion in student debt. Through several initiatives, the Biden administration has forgiven student debt for 4.75 million people, according to the Department of Education.

"We are in a student debt crisis,” Warren said.

What can be done to help people carrying student debt?

In Massachusetts, Gov. Maura Healey signed a state budget that includes the MassEducate program, which provides a tuition-free education to any of the state's community colleges for state residents who do not already have a degree.

Another way out of debt is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, originally created in 2007, which Warren and Weingarten said could eliminate college debt for people working in public service if they make 10 years of payments under a qualifying employer.

The PSLF, however, has been little-used.

Warren said from its start to the end of the Trump administration, only 7,000 people nationwide had been able to take advantage of the program.

“Now, under Biden and Harris, reworking the same legal program but actually making it work the way it was designed to work, more than a million people have received relief under public service,” Warren said.

Tuesday’s event was intended to sign up teachers to take advantage of that program.

“Let’s use the programs we’ve got and build additional programs,” Warren said. “We’ve got good policies now under way. But part two is, people have got to sign up for it.”

Warren, a former public school teacher and college professor, told the crowd they would have a friend in Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for president on the Democratic ticket. Hours earlier Tuesday, Harris announced that her running mate would be Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former public school teacher.

“If you want something done,” Warren said, “get an educator to do it.”

For information on student debt relief, visit https://studentaid.gov/pslf or https://studentloanborrowerassistance.org.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Elizabeth Warren visits Fall River educators, talks student loan debt