Student Loan Forgiveness

For nearly 30 years, the United States has undergone a major transformation in terms of the shifting-burden of paying for nearly all of society's aims that are now squarely shouldered on the backs of an ever-shrinking middle-class. As real wages have shrunk, the costs of health care, child care and education have skyrocketed, causing an entire generation to amass an enormous amount of debt.

Student loan debt, unlike all other types of debt, is in a class all its own. Stripped of all consumer protections like bankruptcy, truth in lending laws, fair collections practices and statutes of limitations, those who had no choice but to amass tens, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loan debt simply to obtain an education find themselves saddled for life with the albatross of debt from which there seems to be no escape. But there IS hope!

Testimonial from supporter of http://www.forgivestudentloandebt.com:

I earned a few college degrees some time ago and, like many, I financed my education through borrowing. The money was easily acquired. In fact, I was encouraged to borrow. Not only was it common knowledge that this was the right thing to do, but I was also advised by university staff that this money was there for me to achieve some level of social and economic advancement. I swallowed the hook, the big, "engancha" as they say here in Nuevo Mexico. God, do I have regrets. I am yoked, and despite very earnest ongoing attempts to pay it off, I am still yoked and will be yoked until I die. And the sad irony is that it is because of these financial handcuffs that I cannot pursue a career in the arts. Not only can I not participate in the Culture of our nation, I also face the prospect of real financial ruin, and, mind you, this is no abstraction; this means real human suffering. I have unwittingly fallen prey to the most cynical and mean spirited political machination that is truly Machiavellian.

Fate or Providence has a way of intervening though. I have found comfort, camaraderie, and, above all, hope, in Rob Applebaum's, organization, forgivestudentloandebt.com. Since beginning to participate just a week ago, I have discovered that I'm far from alone. I have also become informed about the real progress that has been made with everyone's cooperative efforts.

President Obama has acknowledged that student debt is a huge issue, and he has offered some programs of remediation. Though his latest proposal totally leaves me out (I signed my promissory notes before 1998), he, nonetheless, is headed in the right direction (I mean the most sensible direction). To reiterate, due to forgivestudentloandebt.com, I now feel I have a fighting chance, and I have HOPE and COMMUNITY!

As President Obama said during his first State of the Union address: "In America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college."

Central to forgivestudentloandebt.com's mission is a belief that a well-educated citizenry is essential to our prosperity as a nation in the new, 21st Century economy. Quality education is the key to our ability to compete and succeed on a global scale and, to the extent we burden our workforce with enormous debts to obtain the knowledge and skills they need to excel, we limit not only our future economic choices, but our freedom in general. The future economic success of our nation is wholly dependent upon a workforce with the critical thinking skills necessary for innovation, entrepreneurship and prosperity and it is FSLD's core belief that, in order to unleash the full potential of those skills, we can no longer burden students with the ever-increasing costs of an education that benefits society in general, not just the students receiving them.

If you believe that anyone who wants an education should be able to receive one without having to shoulder a lifetime of debt, then please join the revolution at http://www.forgivestudentloandebt.com. Join the more than quarter million Americans who are now waging the fight to rescue the middle class from the pitfalls of student loan debt.