Author: Chris Hicks

via The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Paying off your student debt can be hard, and not just because of how much it costs. I’ve heard many stories about how student loan servicers (the company that sends you bills each month) can make the process of paying off your loans even more difficult. I hear from people… Read More»

via IIP Photo Archive

It’s the time of the year when many similar stories surface announcing that this year’s class of graduating students will hold the most debt on record. Almost identical articles were written last year, and they will likely be written again next year. Yes, the class of 2015 holds the unfortunate… Read More»

Photo via Flickr

For the more than 40 million student debtors who, on average, owe $30,000, keeping up with bills every month is next to impossible. In fact, new data released by the Department of Education shows that nearly a third of all student debtors with federal student debt are behind on their… Read More»

Natasha Hornes, a former student of Everest University, is participating in the debt strike. Original photo courtesy of Strike Debt.

Fifteen former students have launched the first-ever student loan debt strike in U.S. history. The strikers, dubbed the “Corinthian 15” after the now-bankrupt network of for-profit schools they attended, announced the strike with a simple message directed at the Department of Education: “We owe you nothing.” Last year, Corinthian Colleges,… Read More»

Last Friday, the Department of Education made a huge announcement that it’s cutting contracts with five private companies it had hired as debt collectors on defaulted student loans. For years, Jobs With Justice has worked closely with our allies, including the Student Labor Action Project, US Student Association, and the… Read More»

UPDATE 5: Since 2019, three additional bills have passed, including in Georgia (HB 42), Louisiana (HB 423), and Texas (SB 37).  UPDATE 4: During the 2019 state legislative cycle, Kentucky (HB 118) passed a law to end the practice of revoking someone’s professional license if they defaulted on their student… Read More»

For the millions of Americans drowning in debt, non-payment is not an option, and student debt is the worst kind of debt to have. As Senator Elizabeth Warren once remarked, the powers of student-loan debt collectors “would make a mobster envious.” If you’re a company that holds student debt, on the… Read More»

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo | Source: Wikimedia Commons

Tonight, during his State of the State address in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo will highlight his “Get on Your Feet Loan Forgiveness” proposal, a program that would mandate that the state of New York cover certain borrowers’ student loan payments the first two years out of college. Any New… Read More»

Photo credit Angus Johnston

The words “free” and “college” haven’t been uttered in the same sentence by a president in decades, until President Obama made a huge announcement last week: he’ll use his State of the Union address to share a plan for making community college free. The concept isn’t new. Across the country,… Read More»

Photo via Flickr

Did you know that in two states not paying your student loans could mean your driver’s license can be revoked? That’s the harsh reality for those who have had to borrow to pay for college in both Montana and Iowa, where there are laws that allow the state to take… Read More»