Debt Free Future

07/29/2019

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"On the whole, education spending in Massachusetts has not kept up with the growth of the total budget from FY10 to FY20. In the previous four years, the education budget has been volatile with little assurance of future stability and growth. Though the past two years have been encouraging for the education budget, only a small share of the education budget growth has gone to higher education. Despite a five percent increase over the past year, appropriations to UMass have been close to stagnant over the past decade. Extending the time frame of this analysis further back reveals that both higher education and spending towards UMass was higher in FY2001. Thus, much more needs to be done to ensure that higher education receives its fair share of funding in future state budgets."

The state budget of Massachusetts grew slowly in the years following the Great Recession. Between FY10 and FY13, the total budget…

04/07/2019

Wealth loss per person due to student debt at UMass Amherst:

White Students: $103,228

Black Students: $117,376

A place where words matter

02/23/2019

Brilliant Letter to the Editor by DFF's own Adrienne Ashe:

"I challenge all legislators, specifically in Cambridge, to show their support. Under the organization of the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts, students, faculty and parents will be going to the State House to lobby their support March 21."

Tuesday, February 19, 2019Student debt remains a pressing issue on any college campus, but particularly at public universities in Massachusetts. I know multiple students who have either dropped out of school at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst or have made financial sacrifices – such as ...

01/28/2019

Old Proverb: If you throw 💵💵💵 at 🏫 I swear the money tree will grow.

UMass Amherst Professor Michael Ash and School of Public Policy alum Shantel Palacio published a study in 2012 titled Economic Impact of…

12/03/2018

"Parents are borrowing more money than in the past to pay for their kids’ college and they’re struggling more to repay it, an analysis of government data released this week by the Brookings Institution finds. In 1990, parents borrowed an average of $5,200 per year (adjusting for inflation) through the Parent PLUS program, a federal loan product parents can use to pay for their kids’ college. By 2014, that average had jumped to $16,400."

The average amount borrowed per year jumped from $5,200 in 1990 to $16,400, a new study found.

11/29/2018

SGA SOJEC Chair Tim Scalona:

"Our ranking as number one dining can alienate those who do not want to or cannot afford to pay premium prices for extravagant meals. The University should look to the mere presence of a student food pantry to represent their need to make meal plans far more affordable and accessible.”

Non-perishable food items and toiletries are some of the items that may be donated.

11/28/2018

"Difficulty repaying student loans is also reflected in default rates, which are higher for women than for men, and much higher for black and Hispanic borrowers than for white and Asian borrowers...Women — especially women of color — are most likely to experience difficulties: 34 percent of all women and 57 percent of black women who were repaying student loans reported that they had been unable to meet essential expenses within the past year."

https://www.aauw.org/research/deeper-in-debt/

11/25/2018

"Outstanding student loan debt increased by $37 billion in the third quarter and stood at $1.44 trillion as of September 30, 2018"


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-16/student-debt-onus-approaching-1-5-trillion-demographic-trends?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=business&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic

11/23/2018

Students should not have to choose between paying for their tuition or their meals--we need a Debt Free Future now.

As we all break bread today, let's not forget how higher education affects our students and families. College is so expensive that even after having to borrow large amounts, 36% of students report being food and housing insecure!
Sara Goldrick-Rab Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice

11/22/2018

"Eighty-three percent of people ages 22 to 35 with student debt who haven't bought a house yet blame their educational loans."

The $1.4 trillion in student loans Americans owe is making it increasingly difficult for them to become homeowners.

11/12/2018

If we don't address this today, it only gets worse tomorrow.

Federal student loans are the only consumer debt segment that’s grown continuously since the Great Recession.