Student loan debt a ticket to Obamas State of the Union address

When President Barack Obama gave what is expected to be his final State of the Union address Tuesday evening, Sean McAllister, a 20-year-old finance major at Syracuse University, had a front-row seat to see history being made.

Which might prompt some cynics to question whether Democrats have a realistic shot at actually accomplishing anything on the student loan front this year, given that Republicans control both the House and Senate

So did Tina Reyes, a 21-year-old Michigan State University political science major, and University of Massachusetts senior Alexis Ploss, a math major. Howard University psychology major Sable Givens was there, and so was Britney Woods, a University of Wisconsin communications major.

What these students had in common was not necessarily something to envy – they’re all carrying hefty student loan debt, and each had been invited to attend the State of the Union address by Senate Democrats hoping to build support for legislation addressing the issue.

There’s a Twitter hashtag too – #InTheRed – that Senate Democrats are using to promote a plan they say would allow federal student loan borrowers to refinance loans at rates last seen two years ago, index Pell grant awards to inflation, and make community college free for many students.

Woods told her hometown paper – the Racine, Wisconsin Journal Times – that she worked three jobs as a freshman, and is now putting herself through college working 25 to 30 hours a YMCA program that helps elementary school kids get through their homework and develop leadership skills.

Woods was the guest of Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, who offered the paper soundbites like, higher education should be a path to the middle class, not a path to indebtedness. Continue Reading