"The percent of low-income students borrowing for a bachelor’s degree is unconscionably high, particularly if you consider their debt loads as a percent of their family income and wealth. Even if low-income students and high-income students were borrowing the exact same amount for college, that debt is a far greater burden relative to their family wealth.”
"In today’s competitive economy, nothing is more important than getting a college education. Yet college tuition costs in the U.S. have been increasing at a breakneck pace, making college unaffordable for millions of Americans.”
"Income is actually a somewhat imperfect way to judge whether or not a family is financially secure. The typical black family making $100,000 has a lot less wealth than the typical white family making $100,000."
Washington, DC — Today, thousands of Americans are gathering on the streets of Chicago to march against financial service industry excess that has cost the American taxpayers trillions of dollars, destabilized the economy and undermined the stability of millions of US households.
In response to the public outcry against excesses in the financial services industries, dubbed "The Showdown in Chicago", the following statement was issued from Heather McGhee, director of the Washington DC, Office for the public policy and research center Demos:
New York, NY —A growing number of young students are turning to more affordable community colleges for their higher education, but only an alarming two out of five finish a degree within six years of enrollment, according to a new report published today.
“These are folks who are serving [and] preparing food for all of the rest of us. It's a recipe for contagion when...the people preparing your food cannot afford to stay home when they have a contagious disease.”
It’s crucial that the U.S. Congress and the Department of Education act swiftly and aggressively and provide states and institutions with much-needed support before it’s too late.
Washington, DC — As the United States Congress considers the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009, which aims to establish national regulatory reforms for American ground transportation, a newly published study details the widespread failures of port trucking deregulation. Port Trucking Down the Low Road: A Sad Story of Deregulation, published by Demos, a national public policy research center
12 years after entering college, white men have paid off 44% of their student-loan balance on average, according to an analysis released last year by Demos, a left-leaning think tank.
"To say that people post-crisis, as they try to rebuild their lives, have to carry the impact of this is just another round of disadvantage and discrimination.”
Twelve years after starting college, white men have paid off 44% of their student loan balances on average, while black men saw their balances grow by 11%, according to an analysis from Demos.
Twelve years after starting college, the white female borrower has paid off 72% of her loan balance. Over the same time period, the typical Black female borrower's balance has grown by 13%.
"Imagine any financial transaction you make and someone says the price of this thing is $100,000, but you are very likely to pay nothing, but first you have to fill out all these forms."
3 out of 4 senior households lack the economic security needed to sustain them through their lives, according to new study
New York, NY — Older Americans have experienced huge, negative financial shifts that now make it more difficult to enter retirement with sustainable economic security, a new study finds. Seventy-eight percent of all senior households are financially vulnerable when it comes to their ability to meet essential expenses and cover projected costs over their lifetimes.