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On a sunny and cool September Saturday in 2011, took to Zuccotti Park in New York City鈥檚 Financial District. They set up tents, mutual aid stations, and more, occupying the space to protest inequality and corporate corruption. Occupy Wall Street brought the terms 鈥渢he 99%鈥� and 鈥渢he 1%鈥� into the mainstream American consciousness. When police , the movement鈥檚 flagship occupation came to an end. But what it sparked lives on today.

Many of the activists and organizers at the forefront of today鈥檚 debt cancellation and forgiveness movement got their start at Occupy, either in that first New York demonstration or subsequent actions across the country. Natalia Abrams, who started Occupy Colleges, went on to found the . , an activist and social and cultural analysis professor at New York University, and , an economic anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, went on to start , a nationwide debt resistance movement. From Strike Debt, the Debt Collective鈥攁 debtors union primarily focused on student debt, carceral debt, and tenant debt鈥攚as born. A decade later, their efforts saw a small but significant victory when the federal student loan forgiveness in August.

In the years following Occupy, Strike Debt and the Debt Collective鈥檚 efforts included producing and launching a that has bought from secondary markets and canceled it. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a drop in the ocean, obviously,鈥� Ross says. In the U.S., 45 million current and former students hold , which accounts for . 鈥淏ut it was a proof of concept that people could actually take relief for themselves through mutual aid.鈥�

Canceling debt wasn鈥檛 all the jubilee did. It also highlighted the insidious nature of the debt market, the ready availability of solutions, and the depth of a problem that鈥檚 been centuries in the making.

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The Advent of Student Debt

The cost of attending U.S. college and universities until the 1960s and 鈥�70s. When Ronald Reagan became governor of California in 1967, he that the University of California system charge tuition for the first time, while also cutting state funding for the schools by 10%, signaling the beginning of the end of state support for universities. Across the U.S., state appropriations for public universities from their peak in 1988 to 2013. In 2018, overall state funding for two- and four-year public colleges was than it was in 2008.

Reagan came into office just as Black and Brown students began to higher education in the 1970s and 鈥�80s. It鈥檚 then that the national education ethos seemed to pivot from viewing higher education as a public good to considering it a private investment. , an assistant professor at Villanova University who studies racism across institutions and markets, doesn鈥檛 think the timing was a coincidence. Instead, he calls the phenomenon 鈥渞acial capitalism.鈥�

Because communities of color 鈥渉ave been cut off from ever privately accumulating the wealth to pay for higher education,鈥� Bishop says, those communities had to 鈥渞ely on student loans in a way that communities who have always had access to privately accumulated wealth, through homeownership and businesses they鈥檝e inherited, [did not need] to rely on student loans.鈥� This lack of intergenerational wealth has led to entire families being saddled with student debt, in the form of , in order to finance their children鈥檚 higher education.

Those racial disparities are reflected in many forms of debt. Black and African American graduates owe than their white counterparts, according to the Education Data Initiative, and are most likely to struggle financially in repaying that debt. The National Consumer Law Center also reports that 27.9% of Black households carry medical debt, compared with 17.2% of white households. Americans as a whole hold at least

Because communities of color are disproportionately burdened by , , and , all of which are compounded by the , they stand to gain substantially from debt cancellation and forgiveness, not only financially, but psychologically, too.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when student loan repayments were put on pause, Bishop set out to uncover the mental toll of looming debt that feels impossible to pay off. He found that Black borrowers across income levels were suffering psychologically. 鈥淭hey were feeling like they once again found themselves in a debt trap, shackled to some type of arrangement that they couldn鈥檛 escape and, to them, it really reflected other types of racial traps they had heard about in history. They felt like this was their subprime moment.鈥�

Borrowing Everywhere

Thanks to the rise of both and , after the early 1970s, it became more profitable for banks to invest in consumer debt, rather than their focus on the steel and railroad industries of previous decades, for example. Today, consumers can borrow for just about everything, from made with credit cards to large, durable goods, like cars, homes, and associated maintenance programs, the sellers of which often offer their own financing.

Debt has become a central element of the U.S. criminal justice system, too, largely in the form of fines and fees that total an in carceral debt held by those currently and formerly incarcerated. 鈥淚f you look at any one household, there are numerous kinds of debt鈥攎edical debt, housing debt, credit card debt, auto debt鈥攆lowing through the household. They鈥檙e all interdependent in a way,鈥� Ross says, since the ability to pay one debt impacts the others. As the debt market grew, so did and predatory practices that it, including , like Corinthian College, which used deceptive marketing tactics and often left former students and graduates with worthless degrees and mountains of debt.

Corinthian students made up a significant portion of the Debt Collective鈥檚 first Rolling Jubilee in 2014. But single-handedly erasing debt isn鈥檛 Debt Collective鈥檚 goal, explains Hannah Appel, one of the Debt Collective鈥檚 founders. 鈥淲e cannot crowdsource away everybody鈥檚 debt,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he endgame here is to put the potential power, the potential collective leverage of debt, into the hands of debtors to actually change the systems that indebted us in the first place.鈥�

It鈥檚 through collective action, organizing, and legal pressure that the Debt Collective and other entities working in the debt cancellation and forgiveness space are questioning the very foundations of our society, culture, economy, and the racial capital system that underpins them鈥攁nd they鈥檙e achieving victories. In the summer of 2022, the U.S. Department of Education $5.8 billion of debt owed by 560,000 Corinthian borrowers.

Technology is also playing a big role in debt cancellation efforts. The Debt Collective offers a suite of that help debtors navigate the often complex legal process of disputing debt. Rather than navigating complicated processes alone, the Defense to Repayment app, for example, has borrowers answer questions to create state-specific legal arguments for debt disputes. Appel says an estimated 75,000 people used the app in the first eight months after its launch in February 2014.

Bigger Goals

The Debt Collective is far from alone in striving to eliminate debt. Groups like the and are working to oppose and reform the cost of and the debt associated with them. There are also , , , , and more organizations that are all, at least in part, organizing to address debt.

Their efforts are strategically intended to contribute to systemic reforms and goals, like abolishing student, medical, and carceral debt, and reforming the primary sources of that debt. Those efforts include supporting a single-payer health care system and tuition-free higher education鈥攐bjectives that are 鈥渁 lot closer than you might think,鈥� explains Andre Perry, a . 鈥淐ommunity colleges in a lot of states are already there because Pell Grants generally cover their tuition,鈥� he says.

Bishop agrees. 鈥淢oney is being spent right now to uphold a student loan industry where it鈥檚 very clear that students don鈥檛 win 鈥� and it鈥檚 possible for us to reallocate that,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here is a need to ask questions around endowment sizes and our colleges being responsible with their funding.鈥�

in Kentucky, for example, hasn鈥檛 charged tuition since 1892. Berea鈥檚 students are largely from the surrounding Appalachia area, but many also come from across the U.S., and even from other countries. The college has aligned its admissions process with the needs basis outlined in the Pell Grant program. All of the college鈥檚 students 鈥渂ring some amount of the Pell Grant with them to help offset some of their costs,鈥� explains , Berea鈥檚 associate vice president of admissions. 鈥淪ometimes it may be [put] toward tuition costs, but most often it鈥檚 toward covering some of their housing and meal expenses.鈥�

As Berea鈥檚 provost notes, the college relies on student labor to supplement a lean staff. 鈥淪tudents work for the college on the grounds, as teaching assistants and in the financial aid office, the admissions office, the food service office,鈥� he says. To meet the college鈥檚 annual operating expenses, returns from Berea鈥檚 endowment constitute 74% of its funding, while 17% comes from federal and state aid and 9% comes from annual donations from supporters.

When it comes to spending that money, Steele adds, 鈥渨e鈥檙e focused on the things that we think are bringing real value to the college experience and the education of our students, but we would not consider ourselves extravagant.鈥� Rather than building bigger and better stadiums and residence halls to attract tuition-paying students, Berea instead maintains the facilities it does have while funneling money toward services like its writing and student success centers.

鈥淣ot every college is willing to function that way or can function that way,鈥� Hodson says, noting that other institutions spend a lot of money to attract and enroll students. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e starting to see that [cost] starting to outpace what the buyer, the student or family, are willing to really pay for.鈥�

Steele often fields calls from other institutions interested in replicating Berea鈥檚 model, but he admits it鈥檚 a hard transition to make. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very difficult to start from zero,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think other institutions could do something similar if they had the startup costs [covered], but it鈥檚 really difficult to begin the model from scratch.鈥�

From Organizing to Systemic Change

Just like Berea鈥檚 model can鈥檛 immediately be replicated elsewhere, neither can many of the initiatives like the Debt Collective鈥檚 , which is focused on California, where tenant rights and consumer protection laws are stronger than most elsewhere in the country. However, the Debt Collective is also working with student law interns to replicate its California-centric services elsewhere.

It鈥檚 fighting the law with the law on both a state-by-state and federal level that Eileen Connor, a lawyer and the , believes is key to securing systemic change. 鈥淭he fact is that a good number of our clients have defaulted on their student loans,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey are having the law applied against them. They鈥檙e having their Earned Income Tax Credits seized, they鈥檙e having their wages garnished, and they鈥檙e having their credit ruined, all through legal means. … You have to meet the law where it is.鈥�

The leap from organizing to systemic change is a long game, but in the meantime, incremental changes can point us in that direction. On the carceral debt front, Helen Ho, a research director at at Harvard鈥檚 Kennedy School, suggests instituting fines and fees that are proportional to income, as other countries do. 鈥淥n lower levels, there鈥檚 things that individuals and nonprofits can do, which is setting up a clinic for ability-to-pay hearings. 鈥� And perhaps you can combine that with advocacy to build something bigger, like folks are doing with bail funds.鈥�

Bishop and Perry advocate for the expansion of the Pell Grant program, which is currently included in in Congress. Connor agrees, adding that whatever the solutions are, some experimentation will be required. 鈥淭here has to be tighter controls on which institutions even get access to that money,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think there [could be] some partnership with states where there鈥檚 a system that鈥檚 closer to Medicare and Medicaid, where there鈥檚 federal money, but it鈥檚 administered by states. Maybe we should have a slightly different tax structure where, if there鈥檚 public investment in higher education, it comes back to the public in the form of taxation on individuals as they succeed because of that initial public investment.鈥�

Ultimately, the debt cancellation movement is about grappling with questions of fairness and equality, both socioculturally and under the law, and mitigating some of the generational effects of racialized capitalism. Debt relief and the organizing behind it can also play a key role in recasting our modern conception of education and other forms of advancement as an individual endeavor.

As Connor puts it, 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 under-theorized and under-quantified how there are benefits [to education and training] that are not individual, but collective鈥濃�攈ow, when one person gets an education, it doesn鈥檛 just benefit them, but also the whole community around them. It鈥檚 this collective approach that gives Bishop 鈥渟o much hope.鈥� This, he says, is 鈥渂ecause we have borrowers and everyday people and community members who are really leading a movement that, in real time, is rewriting national policy in a way that we don鈥檛 always get to see around key issues.鈥�

This story is part of Building the Block, an original 大象传媒 series supported by a grant from the , which encourages the development of burgeoning alternative economies and fresh social contracts in ways that can help artists and cultural communities achieve financial freedom. Reporting and production of this story was funded by this grant, but 大象传媒 maintains full editorial control of the content published herein. Read our editorial independence policy.

CORRECTION: This article was updated at 9:50 a.m. PDT on Nov. 15, 2022 to correct Helen Ho鈥檚 position鈥攕he is one of two research directors at The People Lab鈥攁nd correct her quote about 鈥渁bility-to-pay鈥� (not 鈥減articipate鈥�) hearings. Read our corrections policy here.