Two Democratic lawmakers, including a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, are scheduled to attend a fundraiser aimed at rallying younger Democrats around attempts to address the nation’s burgeoning level of student debt.
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), caucus co-chair, and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) have agreed to appear at the May 12 Virginia Young Democrats (VAYD) and Young Democrats of America event on Capitol Hill—one where attendees will pay admission rates inversely proportional to the amount of debt they have accumulated to pay for tuition.
Those owing more than $70,000 will be asked by VAYD to pay $15 for entry; those owing $35,000 or less will be asked to pay $25. Donors with no student debt are set to be charged $35 by organizers.
“The event model borrows from the equality bake sales that raise awareness about the disgusting pay gap the exists between men and women,” VAYD said in an email.
According to a December 2013 Harvard Institute of Politics poll, 57 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 said that student debt was a “major problem.” A poll conducted for the website Rare found in September that 48 percent of Americans under the age of 40 support government assistance to those attempting to payback student loans.
The issue doesn’t look set to become any less heated in the next few years, either. According to a College Board report published in November, the growth of tuition cost this academic year outpaced inflation by a factor of more than two, and the price of earning a higher education hasn’t increased by less than the consumer price index since the early eighties, when inflation was in the double-digits.
Young Democrats hope that the systemic nature of the problem, and the amount of people affected by the issue will cause Americans to not be timid about their own woes.
“People shouldn’t be ashamed of their student loan debt; they should be angry,” said Jim Lewis, the group’s executive vice president. “I have more than $30,000 in student debt and that’s below the average. Clearly, the time has come for action to address this crisis.”
“People, both young and old, are struggling under more than a trillion dollars of student debt,” he also noted. “In many ways, those burdened with debt and their families are putting off their lives. They are putting off starting a family, purchasing a home and investing in their retirement. It’s past time to do something about it.”
Event co-chair and VAYD national committeeman Morgan Jameson added, in the same email, that “the threat of looming debt” should not be a deterrent to a college education.
On Tuesday, Reps. Ellison and 37 Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate introduced resolutions in support of initiatives working toward ensuring that all Americans have “no debt upon graduation from all public institutions of higher education.”
“Over the last 30 years, the cost of college has increased by 300 percent, forcing some students to take on overwhelming student loan debt or putting a college degree entirely out of reach for others,” the liberal lawmakers said in a joint statement. “Student loan debt is now the highest form of personal debt in the nation, reaching over $1.3 trillion for 38 million student loan borrowers across the country.”
