HARTFORD, CT — Recent federal actions authorizing the US Department of Education to send student loans in default to collections, including garnishing up to 15% of a person’s income, will have a disastrous effect on the state economy, according to Democratic leaders.
“Student loan debt drags down individuals and our economy,” said state Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D-Avon. “We continue to encourage people to go to college in order to achieve higher salaries in the workplace and increase their earning potential over their lifetimes, and even if they have scholarships, they are often not enough to cover the cost of college today.”
The student loan debt relief program changed lives for the better, she said, allowing people to start families and purchase cars and homes.
“Pulling the rug out from under them is cruel and pointless,” she said.
In a news conference with other Democratic leaders, and backed by officials and students from Connecticut’s public colleges and universities, Rep. Corey Paris, D-Stamford, called the decision to start collection processes “a cruel and calculated assault on more than 500,000 hardworking Connecticut borrowers” who are struggling with their debt.
“To threaten them with the loss of their tax refunds and the garnishment of up to 15% of their disposable income is unconscionable,” he said. “It will not only deepen existing financial hardship but push countless families closer to poverty.”
FILE PHOTO: House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora listens during a news conference on a proposal to create a child tax credit in Connecticut at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. Credit: Jamil Ragland / CTNewsJunkie
House Republican leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said he sympathized with those struggling with student loan debt.
“Individuals that take out loans, I’m sympathetic to the cost of college, I’ve got three children in college,” he said. “But it’s something you need to plan for. There has to be some level of responsibility on the individual.”
The Democrats touted the state’s Student Loan Reimbursement Program, which provides up to $5,000 a year, for up to four years, in loan forgiveness. The program, which passed with bipartisan support, went into effect Jan. 1.