Student debt has often been in the news the last few years. The Obama administration made several moves to ease the burden somewhat, including issuing a pair of memoranda to the Federal Student Aid office to try to help borrowers manage debt, but those efforts were rolled back just this week by Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary under President Trump.

For its part, OPEIU has begun the OPEIU Student Debt Reduction Scholarship Program. Click the link above to learn more and to fill out an application.

But how did we get here? Before the 1980s, the more the country gained in productivity, the higher wages were for workers. One of the benefits of that rise in wages was that, until the early '80s "a student could reasonably work during their summer break ... to afford school."

Since the 1980s, Union membership has been in decline, the minimum wage has hardly budged, real wages have gone down, and the cost of college has gone up more than almost any other good or service that isn't related to healthcare. Now a student has to work nearly a full calendar year to earn enough to pay for one year of college.

But we continue to tell young people to go to college because in spite of the all the expected debt (barely) having that degree can, for most people, result in a huge lifetime return on investment. The problem is, the student's investment is "the worst kind of debt for Americans - and the best kind for banks and debt collectors" thanks to laws enacted by Congress.

What it all means is that over 44 million people owe more than $1.4 trillion in student debt and rising. That's more debt than owed to every auto loan or even credit card in the country. 

Held at the Union Office

This is the IBEW Union Building: 701 Watson Ave, Madison WI 53713

We meet in the conference room one floor up from our Local's offices.