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SIU-C students hold rally calling for an end to student debt

Woman exasperated with student debt
Siora photography Unsplash
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https://unsplash.com/photos/hgFY1mZY-Y0
Some students at SIU-C are calling on President Joe Biden to cancel all student debt

Students with the SIU Young Democratic Socialists group held a protest on Friday calling for all student debt to be cancelled. Spokesman Victor Ludwig says fallout from COVID-19 is among the reasons today's students are having a real hard time paying back their loans.

"As wage stagnation has increased, a whole host of other problems from the pandemic to racial inequality. I think it's time to recognize that this debt is only worsening those problems, and that this is a debt crisis."

Ludwig says, while it is good that debt payment deadlines keep getting pushed back, students will still be struggling. And he says he wants politicians to remember students with debt, are also voters.

Born in Newport, Rhode Island to a military family, Kevin Boucher traveled the country and the world at a young age before his family settled in Murphysboro, Illinois in 1976. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Radio-Television at Southern Illinois University (SIU) in Carbondale and worked in commercial radio before becoming the Traffic Manager at WSIU Public Television. Boucher has since earned a Master's degree in Professional Media & Media Management Studies from SIU's College of Mass Communication & Media Arts. He is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys gardening and exploring the flora and fauna of the Shawnee National Forest and other beautiful natural areas across southern Illinois. Kevin is embarking on a new path with WSIU as the Community Engagement Producer for WSIU Radio. Look for Kevin's work on air and on line.
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