Even After They’ve Paid Off Their Own Loans, Alums Support Debt Relief

Maria Belke is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Belke graduated in May of 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in K-12 Theater Education. Belke paid for her education through scholarships, help from her parents, and student loans. Belke was excited to hear the Biden administration’s announcement on the potential student loan forgiveness plan.

 “Loans will take a while to pay off,” she said. “This would definitely help knock off a couple of years.”

 Belke’s story is not an uncommon one. According to Forbes.com, 55% of students from public four-year institutions have student loans. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has the highest average student loan debt in the UW system, according to College Scorecard. 53% of students that attend UW-Milwaukee receive federal student loans. The average debt for an undergraduate after completing their degree at UW-Milwaukee is $23,948. 

According to Studentaid.gov, The Biden Administration has announced a three-part plan. One of the parts includes $10,000 to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness, based on the individual’s financial aid. Low-income students who qualify for the Pell Grant can receive up to $20,000. This is expected to benefit students and graduates who are paying off loans across the country. The application can be found at. Welcome to StudentAid.gov, and it takes about five minutes to complete.

 “I left grad school with $30,000 in debt,” UWM alum Ryan Sugden said. “It felt crippling, and that was on the low end. Most students leave with more than that.” Sugden graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with his bachelor’s degree in 2014, and his masters in 2016. Sugden said that he moved back home with his parents in the summer of 2017. Sugden decided that in a year, he was going to pay his debt off in its entirety by putting all the money he was making towards it. He said it was one of the worst years of his life.

“I cut back on everything. I didn’t take care of my mental health,” said Sugden. “I worked and went home. That’s all I did for eleven months. It was exhausting, and I wouldn’t want to wish that upon anyone.” 

Sugden said that he felt he was in a good place compared to what a lot of other graduates are going through.

 “I was put in a very fortunate spot and I would never still wish that on anyone else.”

 Michael Madouse is a financial aid advisor at UWM. Madhouse recommended students and alumni who may be eligible for the student loan forgiveness plan log onto StudentAid.gov. Madhouse says he does not yet have answers for questions students bring to the financial aid office.

“This will help a lot of people, but I always think of it as this: It’s almost like we have a patient on the operation table bleeding out all over the floor, and somebody’s mopping up the blood. Like yeah, that’s good. It’s going to keep people safe. The problem is the patient is still bleeding out,” said Madouse, “meaning that people are still going to be borrowing loans. We haven’t fixed how we pay for school without going so far into debt.”

First-generation student ReAnna Oestreich graduated in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in JAMS from UWM. Right now, Oestreich still owes about $22,000, and said that she had to go outside her field to make enough money to support herself. 

“Student loan forgiveness would be a huge burden off my shoulders as my degree became basically useless after the pandemic as the starting wage in the news industry is not livable,” said Oestreich via email. “If I do have $20,000 of my debt forgiven, my credit score will go up and increase my chances of financing a vehicle or a home,” said Oestreich.

 Ben Stern is a UWM alum who graduated in the fall of 2021 with a double major in JAMS and Communications. Stern is now in the graduate program at UWM and has strong opinions about loan forgiveness. 

“It is a system that traps people and is institutionally recognized as unfair,” he said. Stern said he completed his undergraduate degree and had money saved and did not have to take out loans, but for a lot of the people around him, it is not the case. “For my friends, it has been a bit of a struggle.”    

The alumni who have finished paying their loans entirely said that they have no resentment for the individuals who are going to be receiving loan forgiveness, and some wish that more was offered. 

“It needs to be more. $10,000 doesn’t even cover a year at UWM,” said Sugden. 

“I think it’s great that it exists. I am for giving students more if there is a capacity to give more,” said Madia Hanson, a UWM alum who supports student loan forgiveness.