Activism

OPINION: Don’t Let Biden Get Talked Out of Student Loan Forgiveness

A Brookings Institute study in 2018 took a long view on student borrowing going back to 1995-96. It found that for-profit borrowers default at twice the rate of public two-year borrowers (52 versus 26% after 12 years). Overall, it found the for-profit students were more likely to borrow and had a default rate four times that of public two-year entrants. The study also found that student and institutional factors determined default rates. And that debt and default rates among Black college students was at a “crisis level.”

Published

2 years ago

September 4, 2022

Oakland Post

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a talk show on www.amok.com

Emil Guillermo is a veteran journalist and commentator. He is at www.amok.com

By Emil Guillermo

Don’t be confused about the student loan forgiveness plan President Biden announced recently. Sure, it wasn’t all student debt. But it did address the most egregious debt foisted on students by for-profit predator “educators.” The plan would also definitely help BIPOC borrowers more than not.

And yet, days after the announcement, people are questioning the idea from the Left and the Right.

The Left wants no limits, all debt relieved. The Right wants none of it, and asks “Who’s going to pay for it all?” Of course, they don’t ask that when it was mostly the rich who benefited from Trump tax cuts or COVID PPP payouts.

Bottom-line, we can’t let Joe Biden be talked out of student loan relief up to $10,000 for individuals, with an additional amount for those with Pell Grants.

This plan is focused on regular folks, single people with incomes under $125,000, and married folks with incomes under $250,000.

The plan is also ready-made for BIPOC communities who have suffered specifically from private, for-profit schools. Schools which follow a pattern — preying on peoples’ dreams, getting them to take out expensive student loans, that only result in debt, no degree, and busted dreams.

That was how many private, for-profit schools like Corinthian College and ITT Technical Institute preyed on unwary borrowers, resulting in massive debt forgiveness plans for their students before the general forgiveness plan was announced.

Just this week, the Department of Education announced another $1.5 billion debt relief package for 79,000 borrowers who attended Westwood College. Closed down in 2016, Westwood left students holding the bag until the feds came up with a debt package on Monday.

“Westwood operated a culture of false promises, lies and manipulation in order to profit off student debt that burdened borrowers long after Westwood closed,” said Education Undersecretary James Kvaal in a statement.

With evidence from state attorneys general in Colorado and Illinois, the Dept of Education described how Westwood “routinely misled prospective students by grossly misrepresenting that its credentials would benefit their career prospects and earning potential.”

Specifically, the school promised students jobs in their fields within six months of graduation that would “make them employable the rest of their lives.” Everything was inflated, like a “guarantee of employment pledge” that was never made good.

Sound like any of the for-profit schools that have hooked someone you know to sign up for classes in a business park campus off a highway after taking out a hefty student loan?

Sure, there are schools like the Cal State East Bays and the Laney Colleges, state colleges and junior colleges respectively. They are solid public-non-profit institutions. There are also the expensive traditional private schools like Stanford where people have loans out. The Biden-Harris plan will cover between $10,000-$20,000 of all those loans (including Parent-Plus loans) from those schools.

But for the most part we are talking about predator “private, for-profit” colleges, not the kind of schools that teach you the humanities like history or poetry.

And they sure took many a BIPOC student for a ride.

The study also found that student and institutional factors determined default rates. And that debt and default rates among Black college students was at a “crisis level.”

Black BA graduates default at five times the rate of white BA graduates and are more likely to default than white dropouts.

As for the institution, out of 100 students who ever attended a for-profit, 23 defaulted within 12 years of starting college in the 1996 cohort compared to 43 in 2004.

The culprit is clearly predator for-profit schools. If you know someone in debt to those types of schools, let them know the Biden-Harris plan promises some relief.

This isn’t about the moral failings of student borrowers.

This is more about the moral failings of the for-profit predators and holding them accountable. And yet they’re getting a lot more sympathy than any of us BIPOC borrowers they preyed on.

Emil Guillermo is a veteran journalist and commentator. Visit him on www.amok.com

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

5 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Oakland Schools Honor Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice. His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.

Published

6 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Fred Korematsu. Courtesy of OUSD.

By Post Staff

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice.

His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.
One OUSD school is named in his honor: Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy (KDA) elementary in East Oakland.

Several years ago, founding KDA Principal Charles Wilson, in a video interview with anti-hate organization “Not In Our Town,” said, “We chose the name Fred Korematsu because we really felt like the attributes that he showed in his work are things that the children need to learn … that common people can stand up and make differences in a large number of people’s lives.”

Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland on Jan. 30, 1919. His parents ran a floral nursery business, and his upbringing in Oakland shaped his worldview. His belief in the importance of standing up for your rights and the rights of others, regardless of race or background, was the foundation for his activism against racial prejudice and for the rights of Japanese Americans during World War II.

At the start of the war, Korematsu was turned away from enlisting in the National Guard and the Coast Guard because of his race. He trained as a welder, working at the docks in Oakland, but was fired after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Fear and prejudice led to federal Executive Order 9066, which forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans out of their homes and neighborhoods and into remote internment camps.

The 23-year-old Korematsu resisted the order. He underwent cosmetic surgery and assumed a false identity, choosing freedom over unjust imprisonment. His later arrest and conviction sparked a legal battle that would challenge the foundation of civil liberties in America.

Korematsu’s fight culminated in the Supreme Court’s initial ruling against him in 1944. He spent years in a Utah internment camp with his family, followed by time living in Salt Lake City where he was dogged by racism.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford overturned Executive Order 9066. Seven years later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco vacated Korematsu’s conviction. He said in court, “I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.”

Korematsu’s dedication and determination established him as a national icon of civil rights and social justice. He advocated for justice with Rosa Parks. In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom saying, “In the long history of our country’s constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls … To that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred Korematsu.”

After Sept. 11, 2001, Korematsu spoke out against hatred and discrimination, saying what happened to Japanese Americans should not happen to people of Middle Eastern descent.
Korematsu’s roots in Oakland and his education in OUSD are a source of great pride for the city, according to the school district. His most famous quote, which is on the Korematsu elementary school mural, is as relevant now as ever, “If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up.”

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WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

7 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.