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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1TDAY: US STUDENT DEBT HITS $1 TRILLION OCCUPY ACTIONS PLANNED IN NYC AND NATIONWIDE
When: April 25th, 4pm. Where: Union Square, NYC (and locations nationwide)
Contact:
Pam Brown, OWS Occupy Student Debt Campaign, <mailto:pambrown15 at gmail.com>pambrown15 at gmail.com <tel:917-674-8293>917-674-8293
Ed Needham, OWS Press Relations, <mailto:edneedham at gmail.com>edneedham at gmail.com <tel:207-831-6672>207-831-6672
Robert Oxford, OWS Occupy Student Debt Campaign, <mailto:robertoxford at gmail.com>robertoxford at gmail.com <tel:210-414-8762>210<tel:210-414-8762>-414-8762
NEW YORK - Demonstrations and creative actions will begin in NYC on April 25th at 4pm in Union Square to mark 1TDay, the day U.S. student debt reaches $1 Trillion. These actions will draw attention to Wall Street's predatory student loan market and the long-term financial and social effects of students and families with insurmountable student debt.
Actions in NYC and more than 10 other cities nationwide will include mock celebrations with Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, the Plus Brigades and Billionaires for Debt. Actions have also been planned at Sallie Mae National Headquarters and all regional offices where demonstrators will engage in coordinated non-violent civil disobedience.
"I'm the first person in my family to go to college," said Annie Spencer, a doctoral student at The Graduate Center and activist with the Occupy Student Debt Campaign. "I'm now $80,000 in debt and don't see a day when I won't struggle to make ends meet. Those of us who took on this trillion dollar debt burden were sold the promise of a better life in exchange for taking on this debt, but the deck was stacked against us from the start."
Student loan debt, now outpacing all forms of consumer debt, is repackaged and sold as asset-backed securities similar to mortgages. Both federally insured and private student loans are traded on global debt markets for profit as financial instruments. Many observers believe a bubble effect similar to the housing crisis of 2007 is looming in the student loan industry.
"The current system of financing education in America is fundamentally unsustainable and unjust," said Robert Oxford, an organizer with the campaign. "It leaves students and their families in serious financial jeopardy for pursuing an education and the American dream."
Graduates of the class of 2010 had, on average, $25,250 of student debt while tuition rises at an annual rate of 5%, outpacing standard of living. While federal and state governments have retracted funding higher education, an increasing number students are forced to take on private loans to fund their enrollment.
"Trillion Dollar day is a reminder that private banks are still very much in the predatory lending business," added Professor Andrew Ross, another organizer with the campaign. "Champagne glasses will be raised all over Wall Street today. It's time to put an end to this racket."
Solidarity actions around the country will draw attention to the predatory lending industry at private, for-profit and public universities. Campuses at the University of Chicago, Brooklyn College, The Cooper Union, Hampshire College, University of Wisconsin at Madison and University of California Santa Cruz, as well as Occupy Philly and Occupy Seattle will hold similar rallies.
One Trillion Dollar Day, or #1T Day, was organized by the Occupy Student Debt Campaign (<http://1tday.org/>1tday.org) and leads a coalition of similar Occupy groups to create community empowerment on the issue of student debt and lending practices. The action was inspired by the campaign's principles which, in part, states that pre-K through Ph.D. should be tuition free to students. Follow on Twitter @1tday.
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Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in. ~ Leonard Cohen