Student debt crisis addressed by advocacy group

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified a UNC law professor. Deborah Gerhardt was interviewed for the story. The article has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

Generation Progress Action, the youth engagement arm of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, attributed North Carolina’s increasingly urgent student debt crisis to current political leadership in the state during a press conference Thursday.

The group urged North Carolinians to vote for new leadership in the upcoming election on a national and local level.

“Since Republicans took over leadership of the legislature and Gov. McCrory’s been in office, we’ve seen more cuts to higher education,” state Rep. Graig Meyer, D-Orange said in an interview.

Speakers at the event emphasized the importance of electing candidates with agendas that will honor Article IX in the North Carolina State Constitution.

Section 9 of Article IX states the N.C. General Assembly will provide N.C. public universities free of expense, as far as practicable.

Other speakers at the event included UNC students, alumni and educational and political figures.

“The biggest thing that has accelerated the student debt crisis is the disinvestment from higher education institutions in the UNC system,” Maggie Thompson, the executive director of Generation Progress Action, said in an interview.

The press conference was held in coordination with the release of a study on student loans and debt by Generation Progress Action on Thursday.

The study showed 31 percent of borrowers who received loans in 2011 have either defaulted or haven’t been able to make any payments on the loans.

Meyer said if the state continues under Republican leadership it’s going to be difficult to change student debt laws.

“The speed with which we’ll be able to address student debt will completely depend on who gets elected,” Meyers said.

As of now, Meyers said the topic of student debt had been completely ignored by the political leaders of North Carolina.

Thompson said 49 out of 50 states have disinvested money from higher education.

“In terms of investments to make our economy grow and our workforce more competitive, this is the best investment,” she said.

Deborah Gerhardt, professor at the UNC School of Law, said cutting money for higher education leads to losing jobs and business for the state.

“(Gov.) McCrory cuts funding to our universities by $40 million and instead uses money to pay lawyers to support discriminatory legislation,” Gerhardt said.

UNC students and graduates who spoke said the crisis directly affected them and their families.

“Students need to be thinking about how their impact on policy can be heard through their vote in a year where elections are going to be very, very close,” Meyer said.

@JMConnnell

state@dailytarheel.com