President Barack Obama signed into law a student loan deal at the beginning of August which would retroactively lower interest rates for college students, but Tony Fiorentino, student senator, said he doesn’t feel there was any movement in the effort to ultimately lower the cost for students with this new law.

“This law really didn’t address the systemic failures,” Fiorentino said. “It didn’t address the bankruptcy problems, the fact that standard consumer protections and statutes of limitations don’t exist when it comes to student debt.”

For the coming school year, the law allows for undergraduates to take out federally subsidized Stafford loans at an interest rate of 3.86 percent, while graduate and PLUS loans will be offered at 5.41 percent and 6.41 percent, respectively.

Guaranteeing a cap on loan interest rates, this law also ensures that undergraduate rates can never rise above 8.25 percent, while graduate loans are capped at 9.5 percent and PLUS loans have a limit of 10.5 percent.

Despite these efforts, Fiorentino directs attention back at the root problem: the cost of tuition.

“It’s kind of a distraction when you think about it,” Fiorentino points out. “Really what crushes students is the sticker price of attending college.”

Senator Mitch Dickey, sophomore in LAS, said he met with Rep. Rodney Davis, R-13, to discuss the issue of high interest rates.

“He wouldn’t come out and make a stance on the issue, but he did attempt to dull our argument down by stating that he, too, also had to pay high interest rates,” Dickey said. “He missed the entire fact that college was ten times less expensive back then.”

Students are unable to discharge their debt as bankruptcy statements as they find themselves unable to repay what they owe. However, other debtors such as homeowners, credit card debtors and even gambling debtors can discharge their debt.

“A student debtor, somebody who wanted to improve their life and serve their community, cannot,” Fiorentino said. “That’s a very perverse incentive that our bankruptcy court treats gamblers better than our students.”

Neglect of addressing these problems in the law affirmed Fiorentino’s call to students to engage in the conversation.

Illinois Student Senate will be pursuing a ballot referendum in the fall. This referendum would give students the option to initially call upon state lawmakers and federal lawmakers to meet with students in a community meeting to address the student debt crisis.

“Students can testify before the higher education committee about their concerns and get answers directly from lawmakers,” Fiorentino said.

The referendum may appear on the ballot with or without senate support. If the question is supported by two-thirds of the senate, ISS would need 5 percent of the student body’s signatures in order for the referendum to appear on the ballot. If not, 7 percent of the student body’s signatures will need to be acquired. 

With students showing interest and catching the attention of lawmakers, he said he believed there could be movement in this campaign.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., answered Fiorentino’s request on July 26 during a press conference by agreeing to hold hearings on the restoration of bankruptcy protection for student loans.  

“It’s up to our students to enforce that promise, and the only way we are going to be able to enforce that promise is if our students know that the promise was made,” Fiorentino said. “(If) students come and rally around that, we might just get back to an equitable system of student lending.”

Fiorentino said this dual engagement of both lawmakers and citizens is the necessary means for change, which has been evident through history.

Fiorentino refers to this student debt issue as “one of the civil rights issues of our time,” where students are now finding themselves in a position where they are becoming “indentured servants.”

“They actually have to work over the course of a lifetime in order to pay back their debt,” he said. “They have to significantly shape their lives around the burden of the debt they have. There are all matters of collection powers that the government has to make sure that students are paying what they owe.”

Knowing what has worked in the past, Fiorentino urges students to be out there and visible.

Dickey echoes Fiorentino’s sentiments about the necessary role of students being actively engaged in this campaign.

“Signing petitions is great, but going and actually talking to congressmen, writing them a personal letter, going out and rallying … that would actually have a bigger impact on the opinion and the representation that we get out of our representatives than just simply signing a petition,” Dickey said. “Putting time and energy into something is actually going to get change evoked.”

Liz can be reached at [email protected].