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I grew up in Maine and came back after college because I wanted to build my life here. But student loan payments kept me from being able to save money, buy a car or a house, or start a family.
When those payments were paused because of the COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time ever my husband and I had money left over at the end of the month. We used that money to save up for a down payment, and bought our first house in 2022. We also finally felt financially secure enough to start our family and welcomed our daughter into the world at the end of 2021.
None of this would have happened if we were still paying our student loans. If we want young people to move to Maine and build a life here, we need policies that support them.
The proposal recently supported by Rep. Jared Golden to repeal student debt relief, resume payments, and enforce retroactive payments for previous months does the opposite: I think it’s anti-family, anti-middle class, and anti-poor. Student debt is holding tens of millions of people back — nearly 200,000 of whom live in Maine — from having families, owning homes, starting new projects, or taking career risks. It’s time to forgive student debt for all Mainers.
Kristin Jackson
Brunswick