I’m sure you have a pile of letters to review, so thank you for taking the time to read mine. Today, I am asking you to consider reporting on an important petition, which can be found at
bit.ly/3gkE5i1. My hope is that, in doing so, our community can empathize with and perhaps take action to help combat the plight that so many young people are currently faced with.
This petition is calling on the president to cancel student loans by executive order, which would effectively cover 85% of all student debt across the nation. The petition was created and headed by Student Loan Justice founder Allan Collinge, and I am supporting his efforts by helping to spread the word to as many platforms as possible.
My fiancé is $300,000 deep in student debt after a long uphill battle that he successfully completed to become a doctor of physical therapy. He now makes up a portion of the 2% of Black doctors in America and has earned his right to be there. We want to build a family together, and it is honestly terrifying: not just as a mixed-race couple (my family are immigrants from Cuba and Mexico) in these politically explosive days, but as two young people encumbered by his student debt for the next 30-plus years of our marriage. Should students like us be indebted servants to the federal government for the most vibrant and vital portion of our lives because we fought to earn our right to education and work? The system is backward, and it is hurting the very people it is meant to empower to live full lives.
With all of this at the forefront of my mind as a Hispanic woman trying to build a sustainable life, and thereby set up my future children for success, this call to the president is not an “ask” for free money. It’s an ask to help prevent current and future generations from being squandered under a growing pile of debt that continues to outpace our income. A staggering number of graduates are not buying homes, getting married, starting families, building businesses or investing into their futures because they simply cannot. They are crushed by the crippling debt of student loans — an estimated 55 million borrowers are struggling under a monumental $1.8 trillion in student debt. According to the recently resigned chief operating officer of the Federal Lending Program, 80% of all borrowers will never be able to repay their loans. And with the heavy burden that COVID-19 has placed on all Americans and people around the world, the financial future of our youth is looking pretty bleak.
We are looking to obtain 1 million signatures, and have reached about half of that thus far.
If you have successfully arrived to the end of this letter, thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say.
I truly appreciate all of the employees at The Signal who do such a wonderful job keeping our community updated and grounded. You guys are a pillar of our town.
Once again, you may find the link to the petition at:
bit.ly/3gkE5i1.
Ivana Cespedes
Santa Clarita
