I am very excited to see this movement. There is so much student debt in the US at the moment that even if a fraction of the students came together to stop paying their student debt it would have a huge effect on the economy. Those in debt actually have a huge power here and they are finally wising up to how they can throw their weight around and get some of their demands met. We can grab the economy by the tail and give it a good shake and make the politicians sit up and listen. I fully agree that education should be free and of good quality. I have been waiting for this idea to catch on. As we have seen, certain people will only listen to money, or the threat of the removal of a source of money. The excessive crack down by educational institutions of the Occupy Movement was the last straw. Their true character has been fully revealed.

I am very glad to see this debt peonage issue finally getting more attention, but we still need to spread the word. The sooner we get to 1 million signatures the sooner we can get the ball in our court. Please sign to show your support and share this with everyone you know, also, check out this excellent interview:

From Democracy Now:

We speak with two guests who helped launch the “Occupy Student Debt Campaign” Pledge of Refusal, which asks student signatories to refuse their student loan debt until a number of education reforms are implemented, including free public education. Pamela Brown is a Ph.D student in Sociology at The New School, and Andrew Ross is a professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University.

Pledge of Refusal

As members of the most indebted generations in history, we pledge to stop making student loan payments after one million of us have signed this pledge.

Student loan debt, soon to top $1 trillion, is poisoning the pursuit of higher education. With chronic underemployment likely for decades to come, we will carry an intolerable burden into the future. The time has come to refuse this debt load. Debt distorts our educational priorities and severely limits our life options.

Education is not a commodity and it should not be a vehicle for generating debt, or profit for banks. Education at all levels –pre- K through Ph.D. — is a right and a public good.

* We believe the federal government should cover the cost of tuition at public colleges and universities.

* We believe that any student loan should be interest-free.

* We believe that private and for-profit colleges and universities, which are largely financed through student debt, should open their books.

*We believe that the current student debt load should be written off.

In acknowledgment of these beliefs, I am signing the Debtors’ Pledge of Refusal. More Info

Occupy Student Debt
www.occupystudentdebtcampaign.org
Occupy Student Debt Facebook page