“It was like waking up and learning you won the lottery.” “I wanted to pinch myself. But it is true. No more student debt.” “I am debt free finally!” “I am so grateful.”
These are just some of the comments flooding the AFT’s offices as members call, email and tweet, giddy about the weight of student debt being lifted from their lives. They cry. They laugh. And many thank the union directly for the hard work it took to begin to fix a student loan program so broken that thousands of borrowers have been stuck under mounds of undeserved debt for decades.
The AFT settled a landmark court case against the Education Department last October and has fought for years against fraud and abuse in the student loan system. Along with winning significant systemic changes through litigation and advocacy, the AFT also holds student debt clinics, sponsors online assistance and partners with the anti-debt assistance organization Summer to help borrowers untangle the complicated paperwork of their individual debt relief. The AFT has saved members an estimated $600 million in future payments.
Now the AFT and other borrower advocates are celebrating the cancellation of $6.2 billion in student debt for 100,000 public service workers like teachers, college professors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, public employees, and other people who work for the public…
