Groups Ask Ohio To Stop Collecting Student Debt Amid Coronavirus

CLEVELAND — A coalition of organizations is asking Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to stop collecting student debt during the new coronavirus crisis. Officials cited ballooning unemployment numbers and punitive collection tactics as the reason for their request.

“Today, many Ohioans are out of work and students are at home trying to juggle finishing out the semester online and supporting their families. Now is not the time to saddle Ohio’s students and their families with more debt. We need to pull together and bring relief to debt-holders who will have to make a living in a drastically different economy than two months ago," said Ohio Student Association Executive Director Prentiss Haney.

Yost's office and Ohio's public colleges and universities have agreed to stop the certification of new student debt until April 27, at the earliest. Previous requests for relief from debt collection will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

"As Policy Matters Ohio has acknowledged, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office has agreed to review requests for relief from ongoing collection of previously certified debt on a case-by-case basis with the full cooperation of and direction from individual institutions. Existing debt collection efforts are at various stages depending upon the situation, previously entered agreements, and pending litigation," a spokesperson for Yost told Patch.

According to Yost's website, 62 percent of college graduates in Ohio leave school with an average debt of $30,000.

“Attorney General Yost made smart, compassionate decisions to temporarily alleviate the stress of student debt for many Ohioans,” said Policy Matters Ohio Researcher Piet van Lier. “He can and should go further to help people weather the COVID-19 crisis.”

Policy Matters Ohio, the Ohio Student Association, Innovation Ohio and College Now Greater Cleveland issued a joint letter to Yost, calling on him to further alleviate debt stress during the pandemic.

Here's what the groups are asking for:

• Suspend state and third-party collection efforts on all active student debt and pause any active payment plans without penalty to the debtor
• Stop the accrual of interest, fees or fines on active student debt for the duration of the payment suspension
• Suspend special counsel collection efforts on student accounts
  • Halt the garnishing of wages, seizing of state tax refunds or bank accounts and stop foreclosure proceedings
• Reduce by 30 percent the amount of student debt owed by anyone who is out of work because of the COVID-19 crisis
• Report missed payments to credit bureaus as on-time payments
• Extend the understanding with Ohio's public colleges to stop new certification of student debt through the end of the pandemic

“As a college instructor, I see the challenges the growing cost of higher education poses for students,” said Stephen Dyer, education policy fellow at Innovation Ohio. “Assisting these students so they can finish their post-secondary education or training will pay off for the country and help it recover faster from our economic crisis.”

A copy of the letter has been shared online.