My mother was a single parent who worked three jobs just to make sure my siblings and I had a roof over our heads and food on the table—so I know the struggle to live a better life is real.
A college education can help New Yorkers go far, but the financial burden of that education can be overwhelming. For far too many New Yorkers, pursuing a college degree leads to a lifetime of debt. Many of these New Yorkers are city employees, like Shiniqua, who — after pursuing two Master’s degrees, including a Master’s in Public Administration — was left with $240,000 in debt. That is an unimaginable sum for most New Yorkers and it shouldn’t be the price you have to pay to achieve your dreams.
That is why, earlier this year, our administration announced a partnership with leading student loan-forgiveness company, Summer, to help wipe out $360 million in student loan debt for 100,000 hard-working public servants. And now, we are proud to expand this program to all New York City residents and help working-class New Yorkers keep up to $1 billion in their pockets.
Our municipal student loan payment reduction and college savings assistance program will allow New Yorkers to reach for the American Dream without breaking the bank as New York City becomes the first major city in the nation to provide universal student loan and college savings assistance to all our residents. This is a major milestone for our city and a lifesaver for hard-working New Yorkers like Shiniqua.
Our program will help an estimated 1.4 million New Yorkers manage and pay down their existing loans with lower monthly payments and a pathway to debt forgiveness. It will also offer specialized assistance for parents and guardians of college-bound children, helping 1.6 million more New Yorkers. Together, our efforts will help 3 million working people keep up to $1 billion in their pockets by reducing student loan payments by an average of $3,000 per year, and, for those with advanced degrees, we expect the average payments to be reduced by $7,000 per year.
It will also help families save up to $10,000 per child through college planning resources. Additionally, we will help public servants and not-for-profit employees receive benefits from the federal government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which enables debt to be forgiven after 10 years of service and payments.
Since day one, our administration has been focused on putting money back into New Yorkers’ pockets. We are driving down the cost of living and spearheading initiatives like the Earned Income Tax Credit to return hundreds of millions of dollars back to qualified low-income New Yorkers, connecting New Yorkers in public housing to free high-speed internet and basic TV through Big Apple Connect, and cancelling $2 billion in medical debt for working-class New Yorkers. Additionally, this year, we successfully called on Albany to “Axe the Tax for the Working Class,” which eliminates and cuts city personal income taxes for 582,000 New Yorkers and their dependents, putting $63 million back into their pockets. These programs, combined with other federal, state, and local programs to which we have connected New Yorkers, have helped put $30 billion back in New Yorkers’ pockets.
All New Yorkers deserve to live in a city where they and their families can get ahead and thrive. Our citywide student loan and college saving assistance program, along with our other Money in Your Pocket initiatives, is a crucial step toward building a more affordable and equitable society — one in which working-class New Yorkers like my mother don’t have to struggle to get by.
To learn more, visit nyc.gov/saveoncollege
