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Sallie Mae Locks Out Student Protesters
ThinkProgress / News Report
Published: Saturday 29 October 2011
“The demonstrators, who had planned to voice their grievances in the lobby of the building, began chanting “if we had money, they’d let us in!””
Yesterday afternoon, a group of about seventy-five students mobilized at the OccupyDC camp at McPherson Square to raise the issue of crushing student debt. The average student, facing grim job prospects in the current economy, is graduating with at least $24,000 of debt.
The students and recent graduates then marched several blocks through DC to the lobbying headquarters of student loan giant Sallie Mae. As students posted letters and stories about their own debt on the walls of the building, a phalanx of police officers and security guards blocked anyone from entering the building.
The demonstrators, who had planned to voice their grievances in the lobby of the building, began chanting “if we had money, they’d let us in!” As the crowd swelled outside the Sallie Mae office at 7th Street and Pennsylvanie Avenue, security officers continued to block protesters from entering. The peaceful crowd said they only wanted to air their grievances with a representative from Sallie Mae, but were rebuffed.
The demonstrators formed a human chain and said they didn’t want to see people leave without talking to them about student debt. Eventually, police escorted employees out of the building, and demonstrators verbally warned eachother against the use of any violence or harassment against Sallie Mae staffers.
Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest student lender, has spent millions lobbying Congress to continue massive government subsidies to private lenders. Worse, Sallie Mae has lobbied aggressively, using money received from students, to allow private lenders to use predatory practices, including hidden fees.
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ABOUT Lee Fang
Lee Fang is an investigative researcher and contributing author for NationofChange. A resident of Sacramento, CA, Lee has written for the Boston Globe, The Nation, and ThinkProgress.org.
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By Aviva Shen
4 comments on "Sallie Mae Locks Out Student Protesters"
May 14, 2012 2:02pm
Join the ‘student loan debt’ advocates & champions in the fight towards changing American perceptions; there is a movement to reach and change societal norms in regards of how people think of ‘student loan debt’ and the serious repercussions in aggregate when the next financial crisis hits. When the student loan bubble bursts, and it will; the devastation will be long reaching into our financial institutions, and then society will finally understand the foreboding economic condition and the actors who were involved in allowing this student loan debt catastrophe to happen: the responsible persons for the Student Loan Debacle, is majority of Congress & the Senate.
Robert Applebaum http://forgivestudentloandebt.com/ OR https://www.facebook.com/groups/forgivestudentloandebt/
Denise Smith https://www.facebook.com/groups/aging.with.student.debt/ who is feverishly working for those older students who are over 50 & also those who under 50 that are saddled with student loan debt.
Natalie Abrams https://www.facebook.com/OccupyColleges
http://www.studentloanjustice.org
And the many thousands of individuals who are rising up and saying to Congress and the Senate “enough is enough, get out of the pockets of special interest groups; quite catering hand and foot to the PACS,” and do the job you were elected to do by the American people, in assisting the American people and not big corporations, you know the United States citizens, the ones who are paying your salaries!
I can’t emphasize enough, walking away from student loans is really not an option. Because, your student loans never go away! EVER! There are many ways in which your debt can be dealt with the utilization of various programs.
http://studentloandebacle.blogspot.com/
jhfedm
November 03, 2011 9:46am
Oldhat, that is standard behavior for the Sallie Mae Corp. In addition to everything we abhor about these expensive loans heaped with excessive fees, penalties and interest, their servicing is deplorable. Customer service with our sensitive social security numbers and banking account numbers and financial information is outsourced to India. Many who have had trouble with these loans have begun to realize that this lender may be secretly preferring for the borrower to default, since then they can receive payment on the loan from the federal government. The federal government then will turn around and hire a subsidiary of Sallie Mae to be the collection agent for the rest of the borrowers life! No wonder people who have gotten a glimpse into the inner workings of this company are demanding total student loan forgiveness immediately.
October 29, 2011 12:39pm
i told my niece i would pay her october loan payment so she could buy her boys birthday present starting in 9/21 i have made 9 calls have 4 confirmation numbers they just sent anothether letter that payment is pass due - person at office said she would have a higher up call me monday -- since bho took it over it is a MESS