Student Debt Relief is a Win for Borrowers, Urgent Debt System Reform Still Needed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mattie Goldman, [email protected]

WASHINGTON – Liz King, senior director of the education equity program at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after the Biden-Harris administration’s student loan debt relief announcement for certain borrowers: 

“For too many students, especially students of color, our debt-financed system of higher education has denied them the chance to truly live their dreams. We welcome the administration’s decision to provide much needed relief for thousands of borrowers under the PSLF Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program, bringing the total number of students who have had their debt canceled to over 1 million. 

“While this announcement will help a significant number of borrowers who were struggling in limbo while this relief was delayed under the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2023, we must ensure the PSLF program is protected and turn to the broader reforms we need to ensure everyone has a chance to grow, thrive, and reach their educational goals.”

“Our nation’s future depends on making sure everyone gets a real opportunity for success,   especially young people and the Asian American, Latino, Indigenous, and Black communities, who have been systemically and historically denied equal opportunities. It also depends on a system of higher education that works to achieve a thriving, multiracial democracy. We must all work together to achieve that goal.

In 2021, The Leadership Conference, along with 35 civil rights and education organizations, released Civil Rights Principles for Student Loan Debt Cancellation. Recently, The Leadership Conference released We Shall Not be Moved: A Policy Agenda to Achieve the National Imperative of Racial Equity and Diversity in Higher Education, which consists of 100 policy recommendations at the federal, state, and institutional levels to ensure equal opportunity in higher education for all students. 

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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