Our Voices
Campus Update-November 2018
November is the time of year when we give thanks. This month we are thankful for the students we have worked with this semester, the folks who have taken the time to tell their student debt stories, the allies who stand with us, and the opportunities for campus...
Midterm elections bring hopes to student loans Borrowers
The midterms elections brought more women, millennials, and people of color to Congress. As these groups are known to be disproportionately affected by student debt, we are hopeful that their personal experience will motivate them to fix America’s crippling...
Why I am funding the Lawsuit Against Mount Ida College
The closure of Mount Ida College this spring was shocking to its students, all of whom were studying for their final exams. They had to scramble to find other schools to complete their degrees- a daunting task given that transfer deadlines for most institutions had...
Campus Update-October 2018
It’s hard to believe that we’re now halfway through our first semester working on college campuses! We have connected with hundreds of students and look forward to expanding our efforts to additional campuses across this state. This month we brought on Gabe...
Student Loan Debt Innovation
By Bob Hildreth I went to a great AARP meeting in D.C. on Monday on Student Loan Debt Innovation. There were about 30 people in attendance from organizations as diverse as the American Teachers Federation, American Progress, The Education Trust, DEMOS, and Seth...
State and National Higher Ed Policy Updates — October 2018
Massachusetts Updates: Massachusetts Launches Statewide College Savings Accounts Program This month, State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg announced SeedMA Baby, a statewide savings account program that aims to put children on the pathway to saving for college....
Colleges Don’t Ask: For whom the Polls Toll, They Toll for Thee
By Bob Hildreth Recent polls show that Massachusetts residents have lost faith in their collegesand universities. This is disturbing news, since the only thing colleges and universities really can offer is faith: the belief that higher education will improve lives. In...
Mapping Student Debt Burden in Massachusetts
By Bahar Akman Imboden Generation Progress and HigherEdNotDebt launched their third iterations of their Mapping Student Debt series. They unveiled new maps showing the average student debt burden, defined as the share of income spent on student loan payments,...
Why I’m giving $50 to every new child born in Massachusetts
College savings plans deliver lots of dividends Originally published in Commonwealth Magazine OVER THE LAST DECADE, I’ve created three non-profit organizations with the shared mission of getting low-income students to college without taking on crushing debt....
Statement on Federal Court Victory for Student Loan Protections
Zero-Debt Advocates Applaud AG Maura Healey For Her Leadership Fighting for Students Defrauded by For-Profit Colleges BOSTON — Bob Hildreth, President of the Hildreth Institute, today issued the following statement regarding a new federal court decision that...