What is your skyrocketing student loan story

Philadelphia school counselor Jessica Newell paid about $90 a month toward her student loan debt as a borrower on the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, an affordable loan repayment option under the Biden administration that counted toward the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. But the Trump administration has thrown borrowers like Newell into chaos, confusion and costly new repayment plans.

First, Trump-backed attorneys general sued to stop the SAVE plan, putting borrowers in limbo and sticking them in forbearance (so unless they had cash available to switch plans, they were unable to make payments or get credit toward PSLF and their balances grew as interest accrued). The Trump administration sold out borrowers by settling the lawsuit and ending the program. And Trump's Big Ugly Bill-which guts student loan, healthcare, food assistance and other programs for working people while giving $1 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthy-made things even worse. The Big Ugly Bill triggered massive cuts to student loan and financial aid programs; and on July 1, the 7 million borrowers in the SAVE plan were forced into significantly more expensive plans.

That's when Newell's student loan bill skyrocketed to $648 per month. Aside from the $850 she pays in rent for the Philadelphia apartment she shares with a roommate, Newell doesn't have a bill more costly than her student loan.

Even after applying for the Repayment Assistance Plan-which bases a borrower's monthly student loan bill on their adjusted gross income-her student loan bill was only lowered to $440 a month with the first payment scheduled for Sept. 15.

For Newell, who makes $80,000 a year as a school counselor at Hamilton Disston Elementary, this spike in her student loan bill coupled with the rising cost of living has left her financially strapped. Her monthly expenses leave her without money for anything extra, like the occasional meal out with friends and family. She is underfunding her retirement account to save money in her checking account. She was even forced to forgo a trip to visit her sister who lives in Florida because she couldn't afford the $500 plane ticket.

Student loans are crushing the middle-class, Newell says. That's the message being sent by the Trump administration. "These people should not be able to get away with this," she adds.

Newell is far from alone.

To bring attention to the brutal cuts to the federal student loan system after the Big Ugly Bill went into effect, a broad coalition of labor unions, consumer protection groups, students, borrower advocates and civil rights organizations launched the One Big Bill campaign.

The initiative, which is backed by the AFT along with several other organizations, seeks to elevate the stories of millions of Americans like Newell with student loan debt by documenting their spiking student loan bills and other financial fallout caused by the Big Ugly Bill. The campaign will also ensure that policymakers understand the financial harm they have placed on working-class families and push policymakers to repair this harm and provide relief.

If you are interested in sharing your story and your new monthly student loan bill, click here and describe how your rising student loan bill is affecting you and your family. Backers of the One Big Bill campaign will also be looking for stories that detail how student-loan servicers fail to do their jobs and make it difficult for working-class families to repay their student loan debt.

The AFT offers free online student debt clinics, where participants can learn how to manage their student loans. These clinics provide information on two key federal debt relief programs: income-driven repayment plans, which set your monthly payment based on your income and family size, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which forgives any remaining loan balance after 10 years of qualifying payments while working in public service. The AFT has helped more than 1 million borrowers-including thousands of AFT members-get $78 billion in student debt forgiven through the union's advocacy efforts. That is life-changing for people like Newell.

"President Trump's Big Ugly Bill is now forcing student loan borrowers to pay hundreds more per month in repayments," says AFT President Randi Weingarten. "But Congress seems determined to ignore the financial damage its signature legislation has inflicted. That's why we're encouraging borrowers with unaffordable student debt to publicly share their own One Big Student Loan Bill at onebigbill.org. It's time for lawmakers to pay attention to the struggles of working- and middle-class borrowers squeezed by rising costs and finally act to fix America's $1.7 trillion student loan crisis."

[Alvin Buyinza]