Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Student Loan Debt: Advocacy, Reality, and Controversy
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district, has become a prominent voice in the national conversation surrounding student loan debt. From sharing her personal experiences with student loans to advocating for widespread forgiveness, Ocasio-Cortez has consistently pushed for policies aimed at alleviating the burden of student debt on millions of Americans.
AOC's Stance on Student Loan Debt: A Champion for Borrowers
Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez believes that everyone has the right to an affordable, high quality education - starting at pre-K and extending through post-secondary education. As a lifelong public school student, she understands the importance of funding our local K-12 schools and public colleges. That is why she has proudly advocated for full federal funding towards educational programs, such as Head-Start and TRIO, which ensure all students have access to affordable pre-k and receive the support they need to apply to and attend college, respectively.
AOC has been a vocal proponent of student loan forgiveness, urging President Biden to take more aggressive action. She pushed President Biden to keep his promise to forgive $10k in student debt, and she believes we need to do more. She believes we should forgive all outstanding federal and private student loans, and she supports eliminating tuition and fees for all public universities. She lauded the relief, but she said she will keep pushing for those with higher debt amounts.
Ocasio-Cortez has backed several programs aimed at assisting student borrowers - an issue a House committee has called a $1.5 trillion crisis - during three terms in Congress. The New York Democrat made a point about the issue by taking time during a 2019 meeting to submit a student loan payment.
Key Highlights and Fact Checks from AOC's Speech on Student Loans
In a speech on the House floor, Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) rallied against “crushing” student loan debt and called on President Joe Biden to cancel student loans. “This is getting ridiculous,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to student loans, at the beginning of her speech. Here are some key highlights and fact checks from her speech:
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17-year-olds are able to borrow “hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who is a first generation college student on her mother’s side, lamented how teenagers are able to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars to attend college. It’s a backward practice, she said.
Fact Check: True. Our education system lets young people borrow substantial student loan debt often without a full understanding of student loan repayment, future earnings potential, or career prospects. As a result, many student loan borrowers are saddled with student loan debt for years, if not decades.
There is $1.7 trillion of student loan debt
According to the latest student loan statistics, 45 million borrowers collectively owe $1.7 trillion of student loans.
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Fact Check: True.
I didn’t get a graduate degree because I knew it would drown me in debt.
Ocasio-Cortez, who says at age 32 she has more than $17,000 of student loan debt, chose not to get a graduate degree due to the cost and expected student loan debt.
Fact Check: Ocasio-Cortez isn’t alone. High school students must decide whether to attend a community college, state college, private college or no college at all - and the cost can play a major factor. Similarly, college students with significant student loan debt fear assuming more student loans to earn a graduate degree.
“65% of all jobs in this country require an education beyond high school.”
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Since most employers require a college degree, students have little choice but to attend college, borrow student loans, and spend years in student loan repayment.
Fact Check: Not every job requires a college degree, even if the employer says it does. More companies are bucking the trend and aren’t requiring a college degree. If more companies won’t require a college degree for certain roles, then more students wouldn’t be required to attend expensive colleges to get hired.
Hundreds of thousands of borrowers owe more on their student loans than they did when they borrowed.
Compound interest can be expensive, especially when it comes to student loans. Student loan borrowers got temporary student loan forbearance due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, federal student loan borrowers got $110 billion of student loan cancellation. With less than two months until the expiration of this student loan relief, federal student loan borrowers have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pay off student loan balances with no new interest accrual. This means that after paying off prior interest, every dollar of their student loan payment will directly reduce their principal balance.
Fact check: True.
“Student loans are for the privileged” is “a ridiculous assertion.”
Ocasio-Cortez said she is looking forward to the Biden administration “no longer advancing the false narrative that student loan debt is for the privileged. What a ridiculous assertion. Do we really think that a billionaire’s child is taking student loans? Come on!”
Fact check: False. The Biden administration hasn’t advanced this narrative. There have been debates regarding student loan cancellation, and whether wide-scale student loan cancellation would disproportionately benefit wealthier student loan borrowers. However, the president or his administration hasn’t claimed that student loans are only for “privileged” student loan borrowers.
AOC's Reaction to Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan
On Wednesday, Biden finally took a step toward fulfilling a core part of his campaign pledge by announcing up to $20,000 in student-debt cancellation for Pell Grant recipients making under $125,000 a year and up to $10,000 in relief for other federal borrowers under the same income cap. While Biden said this would be a "one-time" broad relief, though, Ocasio-Cortez doesn't think that suffices.
"It was YOUR pushing, YOUR pressure, YOUR organizing that got them to this point," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in an Instagram post, referring to Biden's student-loan forgiveness. "It is up to us, and to you, to decide if we are going to stop here, or if we are going to keep pushing."
She added: "I am very grateful for this watershed moment of a first step - it is so encouraging, thrilling, and has already changed SO many people's lives. But I am also thinking about how this still leaves a question mark for those in the highest amounts of debt, who need the most amount of help."
The Biden administration recently returned to the drawing board after the Supreme Court canceled Biden's student loan debt handout, ruling that Congress would have to authorize such a program explicitly. Biden said the court "misinterpreted the Constitution" and offered a "work-around" plan that will provide a 12-month "on-ramp" intended to assist borrowers struggling to resume repayment. Ocasio-Cortez, however, was unsatisfied with the terms of the plan.
"I would like to see interest payments suspended during this time, especially during that 12-month ramp-up period," Ocasio-Cortez told CNN's Dana Bash. "There are millions of people in this country that have student loan debt under… $10,000 or $20,000, as outlined in the plan."
"People should not be incurring interest during this 12-month on-ramp period," she continued. "So, I highly urge the administration to consider suspending those interest payments. Of course, we still believe in pursuing student loan cancellation and acting faster than that 12-month period wherever possible."
AOC's Personal Student Loan Debt
Ocasio-Cortez has openly discussed her own experience with student loan debt. She said the payment she made during that 2019 committee meeting lowered her balance to $19,000.Ocasio-Cortez reported between $15,000 and $50,000 in student loan debt on her recently released financial disclosure report. The New York lawmaker's recently released financial disclosure shows she maintained between $15,001 and $50,000 in student loan debt.
Her reported debt range on her new financial disclosure remained unchanged from the previous year.
Misinformation and Satirical Claims
Ocasio-Cortez has been a frequent subject of misinformation, particularly regarding student loan forgiveness.
AOC debt forgiveness claim started as satire. The claim in the post is false, Diego de la Vega, a spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez's campaign, told USA TODAY. Christopher Blair, who operates those accounts, told USA TODAY that he fabricated the claim. It claims Ocasio-Cortez’s loan forgiveness came via the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which forgives the balance of borrowers who make 120 monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working for a qualifying employer. It also purports to quote the congresswoman saying the debt relief “allows me to focus on my work without the constant stress of overwhelming debt.” There is no credible evidence she made that statement. Nor is there any proof she made use of the loan forgiveness program. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, which is what happened here.
It originated as satire on a social media account that posts satirical content, and its publisher said he fabricated the claim.
Student Debt in Congress
With the new wave of members elected in 2018, the total student debt in the 116th Congress reached up to $5.8 million. Ocasio-Cortez reported owing between $15,001 and $50,000 in student loan debt in her most recent financial disclosure.
Democrats in Congress have far more student debt than Republicans, likely because they make up the majority of the new lawmakers first elected in 2018.
Freshman lawmakers have some of the highest student debt totals in Congress. Newly elected members of Congress are more likely to owe money for their own education. Those who have been in office for longer are more likely to take out loans for their family members’ education. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) owes up to $100,000 in student loans for his child.
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