While President Trump has given all federal student loans a 0% interest rate for 6 months, we believe that even after the COVID-19 Crisis, this policy should be made permanent.

MAKE ZERO PERCENT STUDENT LOANS PERMANENT

Coming out of this pandemic is going to be difficult for everyone. This extended lockdown is going to have a tremendous psychological, physical, and emotional toll. Let's work towards making the economic impact as muted as possible! While the federal government has given out trillions to bail out bankers, hedge funds, corporate borrowers, and even foreign companies like the cruise lines or worse, bad corporate citizens like Boeing whose products killed 346 people in 2019, we owe it to the current and former students of our nation, who are guilty of nothing more than trying to better themselves in preparation for a competitive job market, to ease their economic burden during these extraordinary times.

We propose a moratorium for student loan payments of AT LEAST 18 months beyond the already approved 6-month window AND once required payments resume, we DEMAND that interest continue to not be assessed on those loans for the lifetime of those loans. We are not asking for loan forgiveness, as this would set a very dangerous "moral hazard" precedent. We are merely asking for similar financing terms that other countries' students enjoy. The fact is that at rates of 5 to 8 percent, our current federal student loan interest rates are absurdly high. American corporations and mortgage holders enjoy substantially lower rates. If we're going to remain a competitive nation, those types of student loan rates cannot continue. 

Imagine the spending this proposal would unlock on the post-COVID economy if you gave a whole generation of previously constrained consumers an 18-month holiday on student loan payments and the guarantee that they would never have to pay any interest on those loans again ever. Many borrowers are fed up with forever paying on their mountain of student debt and only seeing the principal get reduced a tiny bit each year. It's maddeningly frustrating and almost impossible for most non-finance majors to properly navigate. If we do nothing to change the student loan situation during this desperately needed 6-month window, we are going to have an entire generation of student borrowers that end up taking their federally-backed student debt in to their retirement. Imagine using your Social Security check to pay back the interest on your student loans. It's sad! But that's what we're facing if we do not move to enact student loan reform NOW.

If you agree with this statement, please SIGN THIS PETITION now to show our government that we DEMAND that the federal government moves to 

MAKE ZERO PERCENT INTEREST STUDENT LOANS PERMANENT NOW.