The campaign against the trillion-dollar student loan debt crisis and the effort to raise awareness about the devastating effects of it on students, workers and the economy has gained a prominent new advocate.
On the heels of legislation introduced by Rep. Mark Pocan that would allow anyone with federal student loans to refinance them to the lowest interest rates available. [Capital Times]
The votes of Wisconsinites are there for progressives to take, Scot Ross told the crowd at Saturday's Fighting Bob Fest, the annual gathering of progressives. And it all comes down to student loan debt. [Capital Times]
Scot Ross said Pocan's proposal is a common sense approach. “Why should student loans not be able to take advantage of lower interest rates?” [Wisconsin Public Radio]
“A strong economy demands an educated workforce and a robust middle class, and students are taking responsibility for paying for their education and job training.” [U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan]
We applaud President Obama for taking this crisis seriously and pushing for expansion of income based repayment for tens of millions of borrowers.
Obama's push for reforms to boost the housing market could be helped by enacting common sense reforms to ease the burden of the student loan debt faced by over 37 million Americans.
While some D.C. politicians like Sen. Ron Johnson are all too eager to declare the student loan debt crisis solved, it is clear more action is needed.
A recent survey from One Wisconsin Institute, a communication network for Wisconsin progressives, found that it will take the average student loan borrower more than 21 years to completely pay off their debt. [Alfred Woody]
Without a sense of urgency and action on real, comprehensive solutions, we run the risk of seeing the $1.2 trillion student loan debt crisis become a $2 trillion economic catastrophe.
To stop the trillion dollar student loan debt crisis from becoming a two trillion dollar albatross on the American economy we need to do more, like common sense solutions allowing people to refinance their student loan.
Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now is an advocate for wholesale reform of student loan debt. Ross believes the current senate deal is just a short term solution. [WITI-TV]
Over the course of the show, Bayrd and Ross discussed not only the crushing student loan debt, but also how it is affecting the economy. [WORT-FM]
Senator Baldwin was exactly right in her speech on the Senate floor today, higher education and job training ought to be a path to the middle class, not a path to indebtedness.
Americans paying off student loans are, depending on income, 25 to 36 percent less likely to own a home than those who are free of student debt, a One Wisconsin Now survey of 61,000 people found last month. Indebted graduates faced an average of 21 years of debt before their student loans were paid off. [Telegram]
Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now and UWM student Santera Michels discuss the burden of U.S. student loan debt, which totals $1 trillion. [WISN-TV]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today announced that the amount of debt on federal student loans alone exceeds one trillion dollars, and the total student loan debt in the U.S. has surpassed $1.2 trillion.
The homeownership rate for those individuals who are still paying off student loans is 36 percent lower than among their peers who have no student debt, according to research from the One Wisconsin Institute [LA Times]
Ross said that dealing with the need-based rate increase would be a start, but that “greater steps need to be taken to deal with this crisis.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Scot Ross with One Wisconsin Now said “the sentiment expressed by Ward shows a substantial disconnect about financing higher education and the impact of exploding debt on borrowers.” [Wisconsin Radio Network]
One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross said that the sentiment expressed by Ward shows a substantial disconnect about financing higher education and the impact of exploding debt on borrowers.
With the crippling student loan debt crisis, many now realize all of their time and effort spent getting a higher education is not paying off.
Many changes are needed to help alleviate the problem, and these changes will only happen if this issue becomes prominent enough to spur change.
Republicans in the U.S. Senate today voted en masse to deny the 60 votes necessary to move to a vote on legislation that would repeal the doubling of interest rates on federal student loans.
The U.S. Senate prepares to vote on a stopgap measure to repeal a doubling of interest rates on federal student loans.
The problem of student loan debt “has been wildly under-covered,” said Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now, whose group has been very vocal on the issue and opposes the GOP plan for letting interest rates on student loans float. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
With the U.S. Senate moving toward acting on legislation to repeal the increase in interest rates on federal student loans, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson has fallen strangely silent.
Americans paying off student loans are, depending on income, 25 to 36 percent less likely to own a home than those who are free of student debt, a One Wisconsin survey of 61,000 people found last month. [Tampa Bay Times]
The growing share of debt for young people is hampering their ability to take out a mortgage or purchase a car, according to Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
One Wisconsin Now, which has been leading the fight against letting the interest rates rise, presents some real life stories on its site of students and recent graduates struggling with their debt. [Capital Times]
It’s no wonder that people who’ve paid off their student loan debt are 36 percent more likely to own homes than those who haven’t, according to new research by the One Wisconsin Now Institute and Progress Now. [Salon]
It takes the average student loan borrower a little more than 21 years to completely pay off student debt, according to a survey of 61,000 Americans completed by One Wisconsin Institute. [Huffington Post]
One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross says the increase will have a dramatic effect on current students, by making it harder for many of them to afford college. [Wisconsin Public Radio]
One Wisconsin, as part of their continuing student loan debt campaign, has posted an interactive map linking to the student loan debt stories of people across the United States at TrillionDollarDebt.com.
One Wisconsin Now sat down with individuals affected by student loan debt. Their personal stories are a reminder about how this trillion dollar debt crisis has a major impact on the whole nation.
One Wisconsin Now sat down with folks from Wisconsin and progressive leaders to discuss their personal experiences with the student loan debt crisis.
“Student loan debt is well over $1.2 trillion. Student loan debt passes every other consumer debt in the United States with the exception of mortgage debt. And student loan debt increased for people during the great recession,” Ross says. [Milwaukee Public Radio]
Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, discusses student loan debt on WKOW-TV. [WKOW-TV]
Research from ProgressNow found that the average time it takes to pay off student debt is twenty years. Students with bachelors degrees can expect to repay their loans in 19.7 years. [Forbes]
It looks like Congressional inaction means that vice will squeeze even harder on the next year's students and their families.
On average, student loan borrowers take about two decades to repay their debt. Graduates of community colleges take almost as long as their counterparts from four-year schools to repay, according to a separate survey from the One Wisconsin Institute released last week. [Huffington Post]
One Wisconsin Insititute presented research findings on the student loan debt crisis on Capitol City Sunday. [WKOW-TV]
As Gov. Scott Walker ponders his vetoes to the 2013 state budget, a $30 million tax break with no income limits, worth up to $10,000, for parents already sending their children to private schools should be on the list.
The estimated $1.2 trillion in student loan debt held by over 37 million Americans amounts to a multi-decade debt sentence with a significant ripple effect on the economy.
A college education is supposed to be a path to the middle class, not a sentence to decades of debt. But, based on our original research, that is exactly what the fallout is.
Our research shows how the vicious cycle of student loan debt is a danger to the finances of students & their families and to our national economy.
One Wisconsin Institute today unveiled new survey data showing the devastating impact of the one trillion dollars in student loan debt on the American economy.
According to a study from One Wisconsin, it will take Wisconsinites on average almost 19 years to pay off their student loan debt from a four-year university, taking away money that could be spent in our local economies. [U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan]
One Wisconsin Institute today joined U.S. Representative Gwen Moore, students and higher education advocates at an event exposing the disastrous consequences of allowing federal student loan interest rates to double on July 1.
With time running out, the U.S. Senate today considered competing plans for setting interest rates on federal Stafford Loans.