Student Debt Day 2013

Seaira Christian-Daniels, AAUW Policy Intern, Summer 2013

She has three degrees and owes $200,000 in student loan debt. She put off buying a house and having children because she can’t afford them. This week, she went to Congress and lobbied her representatives to do something about it.

That’s the story of Nida Degesys, a young married doctor from Cleveland, Ohio. Nida visited Congress as the product of three institutions of higher education in Ohio to urge her elected officials to keep student loan interest rates low.

Student Debt Day 2013, a joint effort by Campus Progress, Young Invincibles, AAUW, and many other coalition partners, brought to Congress a unified message of #DontDoubleMyRate. As a representative of AAUW, I went to tell Congress that we oppose the increase of Stafford Loan interest rates specifically because student debt impacts women more than men.

I am not swimming in student debt. Thanks to merit-based scholarships, I estimate that I’ll be able to pay off my loans relatively quickly after I graduate. However, I carry the stories of my parents who are still paying their student debt off, and my brother in high school who will soon be grappling with the need to borrow to attend college.

Nida, Jessie, another student from Ohio, and I visited the offices of three of our elected officials. We spoke with a legal fellow in Senator Sherrod Brown’s office who admitted that many working in Congressional offices are paying off student loans. The other Ohioans and I commiserated with him, but weren’t relieved. We cannot rest until Congress passes a comprehensive effort to keep college affordable.

I left the hill knowing that I had been a presence for the millions of other students who couldn’t make it to DC. I was able to be part of a movement to help bring solutions for students drowning in debt so they can build better futures for themselves and their families.