Tackling Student Debt and the Privatization of Education
March 13, 2014
Elizabeth Warren kicks off the Higher Ed, Not Debt campaign in Washington, DC. March 6, 2014. (Image: Generation Progress/Layla Zaidane)
Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) kicked off a new campaign called “Higher Ed, Not Debt” to tackle the nation’s staggering burden of student loan debt. The campaign will be fought by a broad coalition of unions and progressive groups including the Working Families Party, Progress Now and Jobs for Justice and a couple of think tanks, the Center for American Progress and Demos.
The campaign has broad goals, including highlighting the role Wall Street has played in financializing student debt products. But Nelini Stamp, youth outreach director for Working Families, tells BillMoyers.com that it is part of a larger battle over education in America from pre-kindergarten up. Below is a lightly edited transcript of our discussion.
Joshua Holland: Tell us about this new campaign.
Nelini Stamp: Last week, groups gathered in Washington, DC and across the country — more than ten actions in ten states — to launch the Higher Ed Not Debt campaign. Working Families is one of dozens of groups involved — it