next financial crisis: the over $1.2 trillion in student loan debt. The massive cost of U.S. college tuition has saddled millions with crushing debt and priced many others out of the classroom. Now, 15 former students of the former for-profit Corinthian Colleges system have launched what they say is the nation’s first student debt strike. The students have refused to pay back loans they took out to attend Corinthian, which has been sued by the federal government for its predatory lending
Laura Hanna talking:
we’ve been working on the Rolling Jubilee for the last couple of years, and as we developed relationships within the market, we found we came upon an opportunity to focus on Corinthian. We knew that they were struggling, and so we thought that this was good space to develop the Rolling Jubilee as a tactic, and it’s also an organizing tool. So, we found around $4 million of Everest tuition debt, and we purchased that about a month before last summer, and then started developing organizing with students out in California. This most recent portfolio is a specific case, which I can get into if you’d like to now. It was actually retired by a debt collector, which we purchased it for one dollar. It was $13 million. And it’s 9,000 accounts across the country.
So, when you can’t pay a bill, the banks write it off. They then sell it to what’s called the debt buyer. Debt buyer then turns around and sells it to a debt collector for pennies on the dollar. We step in at that point and pick it up. And instead of collecting, we actually just erase those debts. Then we send a letter out to individuals and tell them what we’re doing, why we’re doing it. And they can contact us from there.
Latonya Suggs talking:
I actually went on the Everest University concerns page. That’s when I found Ann Larson’s contact information. And I contacted her and told her my story—well, my experience that I had with Everest. And that’s when everything began there.
I did attend college, Everest, to better my future. I attended Everest to get a better job, land a better career, a better opportunity and what we call the American dream. And they lied to me about everything. There was no career placement after I graduated. They didn’t help me with interviewing, anything like that. They were just basically preying on me to get my money. And I don’t feel that I got a quality education out of attending Everest.
I would tell them that what Everest administrators are doing is wrong. And to prey on people like me, African-American single mother living in low-income housing, is wrong. I took the necessary steps to better my life, to do better in America. And you turned it around, and you put it in my face and slapped it on the table and said, “Hey, we don’t have nothing for you.” And that’s exactly what happened. So if it was up to me, all for-profit schools will be closed down. And they are wrong for even volunteering to even get in—you know, be involved in this type of scam.
Laura Hanna talking:
We haven’t purchased Latonya’s debt. We’ve been organizing with other students. So, this is sort of on parallel tracks. It’s happening at the same time.
And I want to talk a little bit about our campaign, which is organized through the Debt Collective. I mean, basically, right now what we’re saying is the Department of Education should discharge these debts. They have the statutory power to do so. They’re making money. It’s the same story over and over again, right, where they’re funneling public funds into this for-profit sector by what’s called the 90/10 rule. For-profits are actually funded—90 percent of their funding comes from federal loan subsidies. Corinthian needed to just make up 10 percent of that amount of the business model, right? So they started what’s called Genesis, a predatory lending scheme. And that’s what they’ve been sued for. The CFPB is suing them for $500 million. They’re being investigated. They’ve targeted and preyed on these individuals, and that’s why we’re organizing with them.
$1.2 trillion is the student debt load right now. I guess the difference between for-profits and the rest of the schooling would be that, on average, people coming out of for-profits graduate with twice as much debt than the average, which is around $33,000 for students. So, the Debt Collective, yes, certainly wants to point out the broader structural, systemic issues around education, and we think that higher ed can be tuition-free. We wrote a white paper that’s called “How Far to Free?” where we talk about funding tuition-free education across the board. An extra $15 billion would get us there. Obama’s plan, which is the two-year plan, is what? About $60 billion right now.
Latonya Suggs talking:
To join this movement. Do not be afraid. I was afraid at one point. Do not be afraid. We are here for you. Walk out—if it was up to me, I will have every person that is in a for-profit college or in Everest College to walk out now, because you will end up like me if you don’t. Stand up, join Strike Debt movement, and that’s all I have to say.
— source democracynow.org
Latonya Suggs, student debt striker, part of the “Corinthian 15.” She is $63,000 in debt after completing a two-year program in criminal justice at Everest College, which is a subsidiary of the for-profit Corinthian Colleges system.
Laura Hanna, filmmaker, media activist and organizer. She helped launch Strike Debt’s Rolling Jubilee initiative. She is also an organizer at the Debt Collective, which helps people work together to challenge creditors.