College affordability, loan forgiveness, and a path to the future

Richelle Brooks knew that college was the surest path to the middle class, but her mother, a restaurant manager, couldn’t afford it. So the high school senior did what counselors and teachers told her to do – she took on loans, confident she’d earn enough to pay them back.

When she didn’t, she borrowed again … and again. After 13 years in school, she had a doctorate in educational leadership – and more than $200,000 in debt.

But economic security has eluded her. For awhile, she worked as a principal at a charter school. But when that school shut down last summer, she couldn’t find another administrative post and had to settle for a lower-paying teaching job.

Now 33, with two children she’s raising on her own and a balance that has ballooned to $237,000, Dr. Brooks feels she was misled.

“I did everything I was told you have to do to make a livable wage,” she says. “You take out loans, and when you graduate you pay them back.”

So this summer, she joined a group of 100 “debt strikers” who are refusing to repay their loans in an effort to pressure President Joe Biden to forgive all outstanding federal student debt in his first 100 days in office. The strike is symbolic – Mr. Biden has extended a pause on student

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