Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, May 24, 2012

All Education Matters: 500,000 Students in Montreal Take to the Streets

All Education Matters: 500,000 Students in Montreal Take to the Streets:


500,000 Students in Montreal Take to the Streets

Here is one reason why I love students - this is just inspiring. Props to the badass protesters in Montreal. You make all of us proud! 500,000 students marched on the 100th day of a strike. Talk about continued momentum. They showed up after the police declared that it was illegal to protest. That's brave!

And today, student groups and activists showed up at Sallie Mae's HQ to protest at the shareholders meeting. Watch the video - it's well worth it, because the loan shark's building is surrounded by riot cops. Ain't that grand.

There are also a handful of students in the UC system who are on a hunger strike. That is damned gutsy as well.

Those are just a few examples of how students and student debtors are rising up. The protests of young people 

Mitt Romney Wants To Bring Socialism Back For The Banks And The Student Lenders

Cryn Johannsen at All Education Matters - 4 hours ago
Mitt Romney gave a speech on education yesterday. Most of it was about K-12, but in a related policy paper, he made it clear that he wants to bring a form of socialism back for the lenders. If he is elected, Romney would ensure that the middlemen - who the Obama administration ousted - would again be heavily subsidized by the government. That means Sallie Mae, Nelnet, and the other loan sharks would be propped again by taxpayers. This is terrible policy. These lenders still have tremendous power over debtors who had been part of the FFEL program. This can't happen again. This is one...more »

Living Abroad As A Student Debtor

Cryn Johannsen at All Education Matters - 2 days ago
I have written several pieces in the past about what it is like for people with student loan debt to live and work abroad. (Some of the folks I interviewed had no debt, because living abroad allowed them to pay off their debt or they chose to go to graduate school outside of the U.S.) I can assure you that living outside of this country is more than just rewarding - it provides you with a new sense of freedom. I myself lived in S. Korea for a year, and it was phenomenal. I felt like a human being again with freedom. It was a far cry from life as a debtor in this country, where at ev... more »