Speak Out

Once you are educated about the student loan issue and can speak intelligently about it, you become the perfect advocate. After nearly five years of dedicated effort involving significant trial and error, we have found that by far, the press is the best way to get through to Congress. Please identify reporters and publications who would be interested in writing about this issue. Call them. We have members in every major city in the U.S. who would be willing to be interviewed.

In general, you must be able to speak with some authority, so educating yourself on the issue, and being able to make the argument is critically important. Our Book is a good way to become familiar with the issues, as are the various media stories that are linked on this site. In general, it is not advisable to simply call a reporter, and complain about your own personal loan situation. This never impresses a reporter. It is far better to speak only to the larger issues, and volunteer information about your own personal connection to the issue only when asked.

It does work. Our members have cause dozens of important media pieces to be written or broadcast already. More importantly, we are credited as being the inspiration for Hillary Clintons Student Borrower Bill of Rights in 2006, and more recently we were involved deeply in the passage of legislation by the City of Albany, NY. Ultimately, there is a very strong probability that we will achieve our goal of returning standard consumer protections to student loans, but in order for this to happen, we need you to make something happen in YOUR local area.