Help Out A Reporter [HARO] ASAP!

Help Out A Reporter ASAP! - I am seeking indebted young women who are finding alternative ways to pay off their loans. Please spread the word. All stories can remain confidential and respondents can maintain their anonymity. If you can share this with your Facebook connections, I would be most grateful. Young women with debt should email me @ cryn.johannsen [AT] yahoo [DOT] com. Thanks everyone!!!

What is the most outrageous thing a student loan debt collector has said to you?

When I first began speaking to members of the indentured educated class, I was outraged by the things that debt collectors said to them on the phone. So many awful, awful things were said, just to try and squeeze money out of people who made it clear to these loan sharks that they were struggling and simply unable to pay them the amount they were demanding. As many of us are aware, these are the precariat pitted against the precariat, making them a very ruthless bunch.

One woman told me that a debt collector said to her, "Wow, looking at how high your student loans are, you'd be better off finding a rich husband."

On that note, what is the most outrageous thing a debt collector has said to you? What sort of threats have you received?

"Sure, sweetie! I'll just marry a MAN to pay off my loans. That's a SWELL idea!"

The Guardian - Student debt crisis: 'it's like carrying a backpack filled with bricks'

Here is a snippet from my latest piece, which was published by the Guardian today:

Amy Diede homeschools her two children – Caleb, 9, and Ashley, 8 – and is married to a devoted husband and father, Christian. Even though Amy has a master's in psychology, and until recently was a professional herself, Christian is now the breadwinner for the family, working as a cardiovascular nurse on short-term contracts across the country.

At the moment, the Diede family lives in California. Christian wants to own a home again, but for now they are a roaming family whose home is a 400-square-foot RV. A big part of the problem is Amy's student loan debt. It does not merely affect their bank statement, it has found its way into their daily thoughts and life. Together, Amy and Christian owe over $82,000 in student loans.

The rest of the article can be read in its entirety here. 

AirForce Times: Many Vets Charged Out-of-State Tuition, Driving Them Into Debt

During a time in which service members face continued battles abroad, while most Americans falsely presume that the war, for instance, in Afghanistan is winding down, they are facing another hurdle at home - according to a recent article, published in the AirForce Times by Rick Maze, many public colleges and universities charge student veterans out-of-state tuition.

However, the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee leaders are attempting to put an end to this practice with the Veterans' Educational Transition Act (S 944). In addition, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee Affairs Committee passed legislation, the GI Bill Tuition Fairness Act (HR 357). Since Democrats and Republicans both support - at least publicly - the military and service members, these bills should receive bipartisan support. At the same time, universities and the groups that lobby on their behalf are enormously powerful on the Hill, so it remains to be seen what sort of spin they'll put on exactly why service members pay out-of-state tuition.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said that he has heard from a number of veterans that universities lump student veterans with out-of-state students, and this drives up the cost of school for them.

"As a result, many of our nation's veterans must use loans to cover the difference and in the process become indebted with large school loans that will take years to pay off," Sanders said.

These are men and women who have put their lives on the line, so it is beyond problematic that universities charge them out-of-state tuition.

Even worse, what about the veterans who are currently drowning in student loan debt? What about the current soldiers and veterans who are being targeted by for-profit universities? What about the veterans who have gone into default while being deployed? (Yes, this has occurred, because a few of them have written to me and told me that they reached out to their lenders, explained that they were being deployed, and still were placed in default).

Huffington Post: Obama Student Loan Policy Reaping $51 Billion Profit - This is not news . . .

Nevertheless, I am glad to see that pieces from this article are being disseminated widely by mainstream media. For years, AEM has been providing data, analysis, and personal stories to demonstrate the way in which the student loan crisis has been hurting the economy.

And here you have it from agencies and Regulators:

Regulators and officials at agencies [at] the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Reserve Bank of New York have all warned that student borrowing may dampen consumption, depress the economy, limit credit creation or pose a threat to financial stability.

Finally! Finally! Finally! Finally. Finally? Wait a minute. I shouldn't be that excited. Yup, I am getting ahead of myself. We're not there yet. We're only kinda talkin' . . .

Because the language is important here. After all, the student loan crisis may:

a) hurt consumption
b) is depressing the economy
c) is limiting credit creation, and
d) is a threat to overall financial stability. 

I think the word may is inappropriate here. It's not that it may dampen things, but rather that it has dampened things. Big time. It most definitely has dampened things, and my work, along with others, has shown that for years. And my book, which is being published by Seven Stories in 2014, will also show that. So, we need these (ahem) damned policymakers in DC to move from using that verb may, and instead start using  the verb has. Then, perhaps only then, we just might get down to business. This is a matter of getting out of denial. That takes time, but I think they've had more than enough time to be out of the denial stage.

I know what the cynics are going to say: don't hold your breath. But you know what? While I might not hold my breath, I'm definitely going to hold onto my hope.