Get us into a meeting with your House Representative!

Hey Everyone-


We are asking everyone to get us into a phone meeting with your House Rep. It's easy to request a meeting.  We'll do all the talking if necessary.  It is very important that you do this. 


Today's action:

• Retweet this, this, this and this. 
• Please donate to our Gofundme or through the normal channels.  We are REALLY needing a few people to step up at this time.  Will you please help?

A personal note to those of you who don’t know me/are new to this group: 


I'm 56 years old. I've spent nearly my entire adult life (21 years) fighting for student loan justice at a massive personal cost. I live in what was a decades-long-abandoned building in the woods in North Wisconsin which has only seasonally working plumbing, a badly leaking roof, and many other deficiencies, particularly during the coldest winter months.  I'm a distressed student loan borrower, just like you.


I have no healthcare, no retirement savings, don't take welfare or any other public assistance, and struggle constantly to even pay the phone/heat/internet bill every month. My cost of existence, which includes fighting this battle, is as low as you could imagine.


I fight. Every day. Nearly every waking hour. Probably around 13-14 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days/year most years. 


Because I refuse to do deals with bad people, won’t sell our members out to the student loan industry, or do other bad things for money that would corrupt our mission, it has always been, is now, and probably will always be very financially difficult for us to operate. 


We run, perpetually, at the razor’s edge of insolvency on the $2,500-$3000 we have to raise every month, which pays both for me to live, and pay all the website, internet, email expense, phone, platform/subscription expenses, and other expenses required to keep SLJ alive and running.


I won’t bore you with the details of the hardships this has brought over the years. Suffice it to say it’s been rough...and strengthening. Really, it's the only way TO fight this battle, I have found, and not be corrupted. 


And it has paid off. Hugely. Our group has, in fact, led the national, public discourse on student loans for the past 20 years, but particularly in recent years, and that is remarkable, given the hurdles we’ve faced.


Make no mistake:  But for this group, our members, our decades-long efforts, our petition, and so much more, student loan cancellation by executive order would have never become a national issue. But for this group we would not have seen- and will not see- meaningful bankruptcy legislation in Congress. Do you not know this? 


Please just google this group and go back 20 years to see for yourself. 


It would be, truly, a national tragedy if this group were to disappear. 


I'm not complaining. I chose to stick with this battle, and feel privileged to be fighting it. But a little help to ensure that this group, all that we've achieved- and all that we are poised to accomplish- doesn't disappear from existence for lack of the nominal funding we need to continue is of absolute, critical importance. A little support from the members towards that end doesn't strike me as expecting too much. I hope you agree.


To those of you who have been fighting with us in this historic battle (you know who you are) with financial support and- most significantly- your ACTIONS- you know I GREATLY APPRECIATE, RESPECT, and SALUTE YOU to no end. We have, together, truly moved mountains despite overwhelming odds. 


We are truly the pioneers, and history will judge us most favorably.


But it is frankly very discouraging to those of us who are fighting hard to see so much APATHY out there, from the very people who we are fighting SO HARD FOR. The fighters on this group are every bit as distressed, work every bit as hard as you, yet they find the extra time and effort to devote to this battle. They can't pull your weight for you. That's not how this problem gets solved. 


If you haven't been fighting, I can only implore you to take this battle, and this group and your role in it more seriously going forward. We are literally the only uncorrupted group of significant size in the country that is fighting this battle as it must be fought. The stakes- YOUR stakes- are extremely high right now. 


As we go, so goes the national battle. For all student loan borrowers, everywhere.


The other, flashy, very well-funded groups in this space have all made deals with the student loan industry that guarantees they will never actually solve this problem, but rather will only perpetuate it and exploit it. I truly hope that most of you are starting to realize that. 


It truly is up to us, folks. Normal people. This is what true, grassroots movements are all about, and these are the only way anything has ever- or will ever- change for the better in this country. 


Thanks for listening.


Sincerely,
Alan