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“I’ll just carry that bill with me till I die”

MADISON, WI – Today, Kelda Roys released a video on the student loan debt crisis facing over 900,000 Wisconsinites. The video features Jennifer Ramirez, a social worker and single parent struggling to support her family and pay her $100,000 dollars of student loan debt.

Roys’ video can be seen here, and a transcript of it has been provided at the end of this release.

“The crushing burden of student loan debt that Jennifer is grappling with is far too common in our state and in our country,” said Roys, who still carries around student loan debt herself. “Nearly one million Wisconsinites have student loan debt, and it’s hurting our economy. As governor, I will work to expand debt forgiveness programs and allow borrowers to refinance their student loans, just like you can a car loan. It just makes sense.”

Ending the Student Loan Debt Crisis Transcript:

Jennifer: My debt is unbelievable. It’s over $100,000, and I’m just a social worker. And I shouldn’t say just a social worker but yeah.

Kelda: I mean my mom is a social worker.

Jennifer: I didn’t come from money, I knew I had to pay for my education on my own. Although I was working full-time and going to school part-time, I still needed that income to take care of my kids and pay for schooling and supplies and books.

It is frustrating to have student loan debt, I think it’s even more frustrating that my kids are fearful of finishing their education because they don’t want to have student loan debt. I even had to confirm with them once on the phone that if I die, my debt won’t go to them. I’ll just carry that bill with me till I die.

Kelda: Or we could do something about it. There are so many people – there are nearly a million borrowers in Wisconsin – who are in a situation like yours. I know what it’s like to have student loan debt and have that impact decisions in your life, and I think we need to tackle this problem and we need to prioritize it.

Wisconsin needs to lower the cost of a higher education. Whether you want to earn a degree or learn a skilled trade, no one should be priced out of the opportunity to build a better future for themselves and their families. And for those of us who already have student loan debt, Wisconsin needs to make it much easier for us to refinance that debt. We can refinance a home loan, we can refinance a car loan, why can’t we refinance student loan debt? That just makes sense.

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