Voices For Change: Joan Frisina-Bowles

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Please help us drowning in student loan debt watch PBS special on our plight.

Honorable Mr. President and Vice President PLEASE help us get something done with the student loan debt. Like myself, many of us have been deceived during the process and our interest has quadrupled our loan payments. We were not told the truth, we did not know what was happening to our loans, and there was no ability to communicate with anyone on our situation until recently. You can't pay a bill that keeps compounding interest faster than you make raises and money. As a social worker I have helped many people, ( and warned them against student loans) and now it is vital that we the people are heard. You said we would always be heard, I do believe you, but noone is listening to us right now. We need to have some remedies. IBR is a start, and so is passing HR 2492. We need to be heard and our voice isn't being heard by Congress. Please watch the PBS special from the weekend of the 18th. It tells the truth. Salli Mae, the Dept of Ed want to deny the truth. I have experienced the same thing, and I will pay this debt until I die. For me, going back to college at age 44, as a displaced homemaker, was a big mistake. I am part of the educated middle class, drowning in debt. I have had no raises in 3 years. Cuts abound in Maine, and I have no more overtime or extra bonuses. Social Workers are working harder than ever, and we love our jobs, but the money can't pay back our loans. Read studentloan justice.org and studentloanforgiveness webb sites. Please hear us. Millions of us are telling our horror stories with the loan debacle, and it truly was and still is. This agency needs to be monitored by your new agency. I am sad when I see us reaching out to other countries in principle and saying freedom and rights count, well I don't think that we have had our rights addressed, and I blame the governments practices of deception who aligned itself with the Dept of Ed and the loan industry, until the truth came out -- thanks to the internet. President Obama, we know you have a lot to do... but this financial crisis for student loan borrowers is part of the depression problem, and we are in a depression. I can't retire because of this loan, and I am taknig a young persons job because of it. But, as an overeducated, poor baby-boomer, I have no choice to survive. Please do something more. We need at least part of the loans forgiven. We don't want a free-ride. We just want to pay what is fair, not 4-5 times more than the iniutial loan. We were taken and the process did not allow us to fix it, and the lenders took advantage of our lack of power and voice. God Bless, I kniow you are a man of honor and you are trying to help this country. I agree and back you 95% of the time... but the student loan issues needs to be addressed... and we the people need to be heard as is our right. Thanks, Joan Frisina-Bowles, Benton, Maine.