The demonstrations were planned as a protest against student loan debt, with students calling for not only tuition-free education at public colleges and forgiveness of student loans, but also for a $15 minimum wage for students who work on campus, Reuters reports.
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This is a part of the nationwide effort called the Million Student March.
Thousands of people have signed up on Facebook, though it was unknown how many of them in the end would end up participating.
The organizers on their websites posted a statement that said education in the US should be free.
“What we found was students have a shockingly low awareness of debts”, said Beth Akers, a fellow at Brookings.
Protest organizers are demanding the cancellation of all student debt and free public universities, as well as a $15-an-hour minimum wage for campus employees. According to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, outstanding US student loan debt has more than doubled to $1.2 trillion – this is compared with less than $600 billion in 2006. Eight million of those borrowers have defaulted on their student loans, accounting for about $110 billion.
Saddled with large debt that sometimes runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, many graduates from college, struggle to make the payments amidst an ailing job market and economy. “I plan on going to grad school, so obviously it’s going to take a few time (to pay back loans), but I don’t think it will take too long”, she said.
College students and parents can now use a government website to find out how much alumni earn after graduation. “We are united to fight for education as a human right”. He has vowed to establish “an income-based repayment system for federal student loans, and would simplify the application process for federal aid”.
The organization decries that this is an “urgent crisis” and that “established politicians on both sides are failing to take action”. She reportedly expects see a mountain of debt coming to $150,000 in loans after she graduates Northeastern University in Boston.
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Yet national higher education experts wonder whether students will use the data found at collegescorecard.com. “You better vote to make public universities and colleges tuition free – that’s when it will happen”.
