Graduation season is usually accompanied by receiving congratulatory gifts and the big question of what’s next.
Well, nearly 500 women at North Carolina’s Bennett College got an answer for the future in the form of a gift. Debt Collective, a union of debtors rallying against consumer debt, contacted the president of the HBCU and offered to clear the debt for the current graduating class.
The Right Email Came Through
According to USA Today, Bennett College President Suzanne Walsh ignored the initial email for the group. She was skeptical about such a request, thinking no one would simply reach out and cover such a lump sum.
However, the correspondence to Walsh was not a scam. When the Debt Collective and Bennett College officials finally spoke, the group negotiated to pay for $1.7 million in unpaid student balances.
Officially canceling the debt for these women means they no longer have a student balance and now have full access to postgraduate records.
Based on a statement by Braxton Brewington, spokesperson for the Debt Collective, they chose Bennet College because data indicated that Black women have higher student loan balances than any other group of student loan borrowers. However, the eliminated balances only include direct debt owed to the school and not federal student loan balances.
“These are the people that are really taking the brunt of the student debt crisis,” Brewington said to USA Today.
The Real Solution Requires More
Clearing debt at Bennett College…
