I just received a letter that I qualify for forgiveness. When the payment starts again, I will not pay it. I’ll tell them to send the bill to Biden. He told me he was going to pay my bill. This is one time I could struggle and try to make the payment, but I’m not. If you can give billions of dollars to corporations and they don’t have to pay you back, someone better find some dollars for me, Saphronie Harrell, who’s been a public servant for over 35 years. I volunteer. I have been a childminder for 15 years. I paid my own student loans. But when my daughter went to college, I was eligible for a Pell grant – as a professional mother. I shouldn’t even be eligible for a Pell Grant, but we teachers are not paid enough. That’s how I got these loans. The government also has to find a grant or something to pay my debt. I don’t think that’s fair. It is not alms. I have been working since I was 14 years old. I really worked. I feel like you’re just giving me a drop in the bucket of all the taxes I’ve paid.
The other thing that hurts me the most is people who are rich, people who had it easy or had enough money in America, it seems to me they have a problem when you try to help the working class. But they don’t have the same problem with the poor, because they want to feel superior. It was something the working class, the working poor, would be entitled to. Forgiving me for $20,000 is nothing. I am 61 years old. I worked. I paid taxes. So everything you give me right now, I’ve paid for. You don’t give me anything that I haven’t deserved.
I can’t even retire if I want to. And I’m too old to try a new career. I’m just stuck. I’m just mad because I feel like everything let me down.
Elias Hansen
32 years old
Civil Engineer in Yakima, Washington
Student loan balance:
$46,000 (bachelor’s degree in 2014)
When Biden said, “Here’s $20,000 in debt forgiveness,” the masks fell. There were people in government who were openly saying, “Oh, if we cancel all the debt, How? ‘Or’ What are we going to get people to joining the Army? If we cancel all the debt, how can we hire more people to do these types of jobs, or force people to work in the public sectorWhen you look at this, you realize that it was never about money for them – it was about power. They use it as a way to coerce people into doing jobs and specific tasks that society deems important Many of the people who were screaming about student debt forgiveness and how wrong it was were the same people who were saying, “Oh, you can’t give money to people. It won’t encourage work. You can’t give more welfare. It will make people lazy.” People pointed out their hypocrisy for speaking out against canceling student debt when PPP loans were canceled and companies did absolutely nothing. Now we say, “No, you can actually help people, and you should help people.” They are exposed as frauds. People realize that experts, economists and consultants hate people who are not rich, and they believe that poverty is a sin.
I knew full well that I wanted to work in government for three reasons. First, I really wanted to help. I told myself a long time ago that I’d rather make $70,000 building public housing than make $500,000 a year building Jeff Bezos’ new fucking mansion. Second, government employment, more often than not, there is some security. And third, I knew about civil service loan forgiveness before I graduated, and I intended to. It was a very methodical process. When the forbearance ends, I’ll have a hard time paying, and it’s not necessarily because of my job. Of course, prices are going up for everything too, and I’m caring for a sick family member who currently lives with me. I also try to help another family member a bit too. But some black money groups have decided they want you to stay in debt forever. And it just pisses me off.
