From Jason Wozniak, Associate Professor at West Chester University, PA, Member of APSCUF, Delegate to HELU from The Debt Collective
In 2024, Debt Collective – the nation’s first debtors’ union – became a dues-paying HELU member organization. At Debt Collective we believe that debt is fundamentally a labor issue. When labor is weak and unionization low, workers are forced to take on debt to offset costs for necessities like healthcare, housing and food. The more debt we have, the more we are compelled to work under the bosses’ conditions — rather than fighting for our own. Interest-heavy loans act as a regressive kind of pay cut, reaching deep into workers’ take-home earnings. Just to keep up with debt payments and interest, workers take on more hours and multiple low-paying jobs. And data shows debt can make workers less likely to strike.
Those of us in HELU know that debt permeates nearly all aspects of today’s neoliberal higher education landscape. Our students accumulate mountains of debt while studying, and faculty labor under unpayable debt burdens which are particularly burdensome for contingent faculty, who often work multiple jobs so they can make student loan payments. The universities we teach and learn in are drowning in billions of dollars of debt owed to Wall Street, which makes them vulnerable to draconian austerity cuts that eliminate programs and jobs and gives credit rating agencies the power to shadow govern colleges across the country.
But debtors can fight back. And when labor joins the fray, our victories are huge. In Massachusetts comrades from the MTA put on institutional debt reveal workshops for years and their efforts contributed to the monumental MA Millionaire tax victory. At West Chester University, where I teach, APSCUF union members aided students protesting unfair housing policies and costs and together we revealed that a manufactured public housing crisis generated to guarantee bond repayment on private dorm debt was driving students to home insecurity and further student debt. Armed with this knowledge, students won $2k housing stipends. And over the last couple of years, Debt Collective members Eleni Schirmer, Nick Marcil, and Julia Peter have organized the 50 over 50 Older Student Debtors cancellation campaign.
Pressured by activists and advocates, the Biden administration approved close to $180 billion of student debt cancellation. But much more is needed. For example, student debtors over sixty are the fastest growing demographic of student debtors. There are 9 million student debtors over age 50, who hold $400 billion in student debt. Elder student debt is a huge burden for our nation’s educators. According to the NEA, more than a quarter of educators over the age of 60 borrowed to pay for higher education – and 30 percent are still paying on those loans.
The grim reality is that without swift action, thousands of seniors with student loans will die in debt. However, there is a clear path for relief for aging debtors. Under Congressionally-approved Federal Claims Collection Standards Act, §902.2, the Department of Education is authorized to cancel student debt for older borrowers, as explained in this legal memo.
Labor leaders urged President Biden to make good on his promises to cancel student debt for years. This fight must continue even now, until all student debt is abolished. HELU recognizes that the more labor wins, the less debt workers have; the less debt workers have, the more labor wins. Working side-by-side with HELU for debt cancellation, we can confirm Debt Collective’s well-known saying, “Alone our debts are a burden, but together they give us power.”