(NewsNation) — Nearly 3,000 former Morehouse College students have had their outstanding student loan debts cleared.
Debt Collective, the nation’s first debtor’s union, canceled $9,707,827.67 in student debt for 2,777 former students who owed the private men’s HBCU in Atlanta through the fall 2022 term. Some of the accounts dated back decades. Accounts included past debt including tuition costs, parking tickets and library fees.
“The financial burden prevents them from being able to move on with their lives. Without transcripts, students can’t advance their education. “It just sort of follows them,” Braxton Brewington, spokesperson for the Debt Collective, told USA Today.
Through the Rolling Jubilee Fund, Morehouse College sold the debt to the collective for $125,000 — which equates to about one penny on the dollar.
It’s a “no-strings-attached gift” as Brewington describes, which offers flexibility for students.
“This nearly $10 million of student debt cancellation will put thousands of Black folks in a better position to be able to save for retirement, purchase a home or start a small business. President Biden has yet to make good on his campaign promise to eliminate all student debt held by HBCU graduates. We’re doing our part, and it’s time Biden does his. Forty-five million Americans need this relief,” Brewington said.
It comes as student loan payments returned on Oct. 1 for millions of federal borrowers, with hope, confusion and fear clouding the restart after a three-year pause.
However, the Biden administration is hoping to provide some relief to borrowers with a new income-driven repayment plan and an “on-ramp” repayment program, but the on-switch also comes as Congress is struggling to keep the government funded.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced it’s forgiving another $9 billion in student loans for borrowers who have been on an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan and Public Service Loan Forgiveness plan.
The $9 billion will forgive the debt of 125,000 borrowers, with 53,000 getting relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, 51,000 through an IDR plan and 22,000 who have a total or permanent disability.
Last year, Debt Collective canceled $1.7 million in student debt for more than 500 former Bennett College students, a private women’s HBCU in Greensboro, North Carolina.