WHEREAS some 45 million people in the US bear an outstanding student debt of $1.73 trillion, nearly double the outstanding debt of just one decade ago, and
WHEREAS the student debt crisis is a faculty, grad worker, and postdoc debt crisis, and
WHEREAS nearly half of today’s educators took out student loans to pay for college, and
WHEREAS educators of color carry far more debt than white educators. More than half of Black educators took out student loans—with an average initial amount of $68,300—compared to 44 percent of White educators, who borrowed $54,300 on average. One in five of those Black educators still owe more than $105,000, and
WHEREAS student loan debt is an often-overlooked barrier to diversifying the ranks of university faculty, and
WHEREAS student debt cancellation would increase the take-home pay of millions of indebted educators, at no cost to the institutions that employ them, because the federal government bears financial responsibility for federal student loans, and
WHEREAS canceling student loan debt represents an enormous economic opportunity to increase social spending, support individuals in gaining upward social mobility, and provide a deeply needed stimulus during the pandemic, and
WHEREAS canceling student debt is a policy that has broad political and public support, and
WHEREAS student debt cancellation is only one step towards improving public education, and must be accompanied by free higher education for all, among other measures, and
WHEREAS President Joe Biden has full executive authority to cancel all federal student debt, using his powers of executive order, fulfilling promises made during his campaign for president, and
WHEREAS President Biden has continued a moratorium on student loan repayments and erased the defaults on student debt for millions of people, but not taken the further necessary step of canceling federal student debt,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED Rutgers AAUP-AFT calls on President Biden to sign an executive order to cancel all federal student debt before the expiration of the federal student loan payment moratorium on August 31, 2022.