Get Latest News Here
Richelle Brooks, a principal in South LA, has joined the fight to cancel student loan debt for all.
She told Insider that a major part of her fight for relief is to give her children a future without crippling debt.
One of Richelle Brooks’ dreams is to send her two children to college without taking out any loans. She knows firsthand how taking out a loan to pursue higher education can amount to crippling debt.
“My daughter wants to be an anesthesiologist. My son wants to be a computer engineer. Two little Black kids want this for their future,” Brooks, 35, told Insider. “And this country is telling me it’s impossible for me to get them there. It’s a terrible, hopeless feeling.”
Brooks borrowed $203,000 collectively to attend undergrad, graduate, and doctoral studies. And over the years, has accumulated over $30,000 in interest.
“Yeah, $240,000,” Brooks said.
In 2020, she decided to politicize her inability to pay back her loans. Apart of the Debt Collective, she joined a group of strikers called the “Biden Jubilee 100,” calling on the president to cancel student debt within the early days of being in office.
Brooks’ American dream is simple.
“My hope is that if my student loan debt balance is canceled, I can start saving for them and planning for their future,” she said. “But I’m also hoping that we can get a free college education so that I don’t have to also worry about how to finance their future either.”
Living in California as a single mother is financially taxing, she said. She works as a principal in South Los Angeles, a career which she adores, but she often has to have a side hustle to live comfortably.
With the burden of student loan debt, saving money for the future is not a luxury for many Black borrowers.
Recent data highlights that Black borrowers disproportionately have more student loan debt, on average paying back $25,000 than their white peers, according to Education Data Initiative.
“Black borrowers have to take out more student debt to go to school, and Black women take out more student loan debt than any other group,” Cody Hounanian, Executive Director of the Student Debt Cris Center, told Insider. “For a majority of Black borrowers, they owe more after 12 years of being in repayment than they originally borrowed.”
And for Black borrowers who pursue want to go beyond a bachelor’s degree, they often, on average, have just over $50,000 in debt, with 45% being from grad school, per Education Data Initiative. Another factor to consider is that Black grads are subjected to lesser pay once employed, making it difficult to pay off their overwhelming debt.
Biden last week said his administration plans to forgive $10,000 in federal student-loan debt for borrowers earning under $125,000 per year, with up to $20,000 in relief for those who received Pell grants and fall under the same income threshold. However, for borrowers like Brooks, it’s not enough.
Brooks decided to continue to go to school because she could not pay back her loan, a personal method of striking that she’s been doing since 2012. However, the student repayment pause during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a temporary weight off her shoulders and gave her a break from attending school.
“So many demands are put on me already in addition to having to stay in school because I can’t pay this debt. It feels like enslavement,” Brooks said. “Getting those notices, it’s slightly traumatic. [The pause] gives you a sense of relief, a sense of hope, because you’re not constantly weighed down by this idea of that monthly payment.”
Democratic lawmakers such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Cori Bush, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, have been pushing for student loan forgiveness — and since Biden announced his student loan relief plan, progressive lawmakers are demanding more relief.
Eliminating student loan debt could potentially close the racial wealth gap. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge has highlighted that the student loan crisis is making it more difficult for Black people to own real estate.
And according to Hounanian, it puts another roadblock to obtaining generational wealth.
Student loan debt hinders Black people, even with the highest of degrees, “who just never can access the benefits that an education was intended for,” Hounanian said.
“The National Association of Realtors have said that student loan debt’s one of the top issues preventing Black people from purchasing homes… and that also perpetuates the generational wealth issue,” he continued. “So it really has a domino effect that impacts their finances for years to come after they attend school.”
Brooks called it a “dream deferred.”
“As soon as we reach one goal, the goal post is moved,” she said. “It always feels like we’re drowning, and as soon as we come up for air, we’re pushed back under again.”
She added, “When I went to college, it was sold to me, this is a way to achieve success. This is a way to upward mobility in this country. You become a college-educated person, and then you can buy a home, and you can travel. You’re afforded some freedoms and luxuries due to your hard work, right? And it just wasn’t true.”
In addition to canceling up to $20,000 for individuals that earn less than $125,000, the president also extended the payment pause to December.
The National Association of the Advancement for Colored People (NACCP) acknowledged the progress, but Derrick Johnson — president of the organization —called for the cancellation of $50,000 or more.
“I’m tired of this. It’s a mental constraint. We’re straddled with this balance that is hanging over our heads, and it’s heartbreaking. It’s emotionally fasting,” Brooks said.
“And I’m drained today, especially because I’ve been fighting for a while. And I feel like I’ve been given crumbs. I really just want the space to hope and dream freely.”
Read the original article on Insider
All this news that I have made and shared for you people, you will like it very much and in it we keep bringing topics for you people like every time so that you keep getting news information like trending topics and you It is our goal to be able to get
all kinds of news without going through us so that we can reach you the latest and best news for free so that you can move ahead further by getting the information of that news together with you. Later on, we will continue
to give information about more today world news update types of latest news through posts on our website so that you always keep moving forward in that news and whatever kind of information will be there, it will definitely be conveyed to you people.
All this news that I have brought up to you or will be the most different and best news that you people are not going to get anywhere, along with the information Trending News, Breaking News, Health News, Science News, Sports News, Entertainment News, Technology News, Business News, World News of this made available to all of you so that you are always connected with the news, stay ahead in the matter and keep getting today news all types of news for free till today so that you can get the news by getting it. Always take two steps forward
Credit Goes To News Website – This Original Content Owner News Website . This Is Not My Content So If You Want To Read Original Content You Can Follow Below Links
Get Original Links Here?
About Author
