Federal student debt rally held in Springfield after Supreme court decision
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) -Ralliers gathered on the steps of the federal courthouse Saturday in Springfield, to call for the cancellation of federal student debt. Something Ethel Everett is all too familiar with.
“Being a woman of color it’s very important that I leave generational wealth for my family and with large student debt it makes it almost impossible,” said Everett.
She tells Western Mass News she wants to change not only for herself but for her colleagues too.
Our social workers come in with a lot of debt they want to go on to higher degrees to get their masters. They’re working long hours, and are not able to make ends meet,” said Everett.
“The graduating class of 2023 in Massachusetts public higher institutions alone had a collected debt of roughly 400 million dollars and they’re going in with that on their backs,” said Ian Rhodewalt, an organizer for the Western Mass area labor federation.
The Western Mass Area Labor Federation is part of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Rhodewalt says they hope to raise awareness of the impact of student debt.
The supreme court blocking the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan isn’t shaking them. Members just took matters into their own hands and have called on local legislators to ask them to urge the president to issue an executive order to cancel all federally held student debt.
“I sort of expected it, I was hoping it wouldn’t go that way, but that issue with Biden vs Nebraska in particular, is the plaintiff in that case, didn’t have any standing, they weren’t harmed as for the 44 million Americans who are under student debt, are actively being harmed and harmed further by the courts ruling,” said Rhodewalt
Meantime, the Biden administration announced this week that over 800 thousand borrowers will start seeing their student debt canceled. President Biden shared a statement this week that reads in part:
“We will continue to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible. We will use every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams.”
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