All districts — It was through interactions with special education students at his own high school that Jeremy Zeiler decided to become a special education teacher. For Zeiler to achieve this, he needed to earn a master’s degree.
“I went right into my master’s, and so did my debt,” said Zeiler, who teaches in Byron Center Public Schools. “Needless to say, after my journey through Grand Valley State University, which was excellent, I came out of that right around just under $90,000 (in debt) for my education.”
He told his story of accumulating debt at a roundtable discussion on public loan forgiveness Thursday, hosted by U.S. Dept. of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. The event at Grand Rapids Community College was part of Cardona’s Back to School Bus Tour, a four-day swing through five Midwestern states highlighting the Biden administration’s heavy investments in public education and the U.S. Department of Education’s important role in supporting teacher recruitment and retention.
‘We’re going to keep fighting. We’re fighting for public education.’
— U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona
Thursday’s program highlighted the value of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, adopted in 2007. Those who work in the public service sector for 10 years, such as educators, government workers and nonprofit employees, and have made 120 monthly payments on their loans can qualify for loan forgiveness.
Cardona headed a panel discussion that included Zeiler, Grandville High School teacher Ron Denning, National Education Association President Becky Pringle, U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal and GRCC Dean of Liberal Arts Jason Vinson.
Making the Teaching Profession Accessible
Zeiler’s experience illustrated what a huge relief the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program made for teachers like him.
In 2010, Zeiler reached out about the program only to be told he did not qualify as he was on the wrong payment plan. He switched payment plans, knowing that the earliest he could receive relief was in 2020, when the pandemic happened.
“I was really worried, because at that time, they were switching over to a different lender,” Zeiler said. “I got the letter in the mail, actually it was an email, and I was like ‘What?’ I was showing zeros on this. ‘What is this?,’ and I printed it out 19 times.”
What did all those zeros mean? He’d been forgiven $76,960 of his nearly $90,000 student loan, the majority of his payments over 12 years having been eaten up by interest.
Cardona said Zeiler’s story is an example of what many educators struggle with — a desire to serve their community but also having to acquire student loans to have access to higher education. Public service jobs such as teaching are not high paying, Cardona said, noting that in Michigan the average starting salary for a teacher is around $40,000.
“But what are you going to do with $40,000 a year?” said Cardona, a former elementary school teacher and principal. “You’re going to get another job, and that’s what we’ve got to stop normalizing: teachers driving Uber, teachers bartending … having teachers qualifying for state (assistance) systems.”
Programs like the loan forgiveness program show what a difference strong federal investment in education can do, Cardona said. The program has produced about $170 billion in debt relief for about 5 million people across the country, he said.
“When we talk about fighting for public education, we gotta fight for our educators too,” he affirmed.
Local Leaders See Value in Debt Relief
Kent ISD Superintendent Ron Gorman said he believes more individuals would go into the teaching profession if they knew they would not acquire so much debt.
“You heard the story about $40,000 being the average income for teachers in Michigan, and then someone having to take on $90,000 in debt that they’ll have for the rest of their lives,” Gorman said. “Who would want to go into a profession where they’re going to have that much debt and make so little?
“I think what we’re trying to do in Michigan, with the support of our legislators, is ensuring that we pay our teachers more; but could you imagine if we paid them more and they weren’t burdened with debt as well?”
Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Leadriane Roby said hearing the stories from the educators and the impact of having that loan debt forgiven resonated with her, calling it a “game-changer, if we want people to go into education.”
“We really do have to think about how do we make it accessible, and then how do we not overburden folks where they have crushing debt to make a living, to do the work that we think is important,” Roby said.
Student Loans, the Price of Making a Better Life
Ron Denning, a technology education teacher at Grandville High School, said he wanted to go into education because of the “amazing teachers I had, and I wanted to give back in the same way that they gave to me.”
‘You want to improve your situation. You want to improve your life. … I wanted to make those improvements, but that meant being saddled with this debt.’
— Grandville High School teacher Ron Denning
Growing up in the Upper Peninsula, where a person hunted because they needed meat, going into public education meant that Denning was responsible for everything from getting into Western Michigan University to paying for it.
He accomplished his goal and began his career at Grandville about 20 years ago with a starting salary of around $30,000. By the time taxes, health care and retirement were taken out, he was left with about half that amount, he said, adding his weekly budget for groceries was about $50.
“Then I had this incredible debt that was there, and it was just something I was gonna live with, like a lot of people,” he said. “I was always going to have it. I’ll always pay on it, but it’ll probably be literally the day that I die, it’ll have to be figured (out) after that.”
Fortunately, Denning eventually did qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, for about $57,000.
“Talk(ing) about the debt that I had to take on because of my family situation as I was growing up, as reality it’s just what it was,” Denning said. “I didn’t want to have the same struggles that my parents had.
“There’s a lot of families that are like that. You want to improve your situation. You want to improve your life. … I wanted to make those improvements, but that meant being saddled with this debt.”
Cardona said the debt relief effort is not done, with plans to go after runaway interest along with making the application process easier by having department officials reach out to the 30 million more people who are eligible.
“We’re not going to stop,” Cardona said. “We’re going to keep fighting. We’re fighting for public education, part of that is public service loan forgiveness to make sure that we have a highly qualified, supported teacher in every classroom in this country.
“Our kids will not grow up if we don’t invest in our educators and invest in our schools.”
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