美国国家公共电台 NPR--Does Biden's student loan plan do enough for Black graduates?

Does Biden's student loan plan do enough for Black graduates?

Transcript¹

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Wisdom Cole, national director of the NAACP Youth and College Division, about the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness program.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to get another view on this issue now. Wisdom Cole is the national director of the NAACP's Youth and College Division, and he joins us this morning. Thanks so much for being with us.

WISDOM COLE: Thanks for having me.

MARTIN: You have called student debt a racial justice issue. Can you explain the inequities, as you see them, built into this?

COLE: Yeah. You know, when we are looking at college education and young people pursuing a better life and a better future, we recognize college has been presented to us as the great equalizer - right? - this opportunity for you to go to school to learn a career or a trade and to be able to get a good-paying job so you can become a homeowner or a business owner or participate in this economic system. But when we look at the amount of debt that Black borrowers are taking out in comparison to white borrowers, it's oftentimes much higher, right?

We know that Black borrowers have an average of $53,000 in student debt, and that is a greater increase in comparison to white borrowers, as well as the amount of time that that debt is held even after they graduate from college, and it's disproportionate, right? We look at the most educated group in America being Black women and then continuing to exceed and attain² higher education degrees and still holding that debt for longer periods of time. And so recognizing that this is a racial justice issue because it is impeding³ our ability to actually participate in our economic system.

MARTIN: So what are your criticisms of President Biden's plan? You think it didn't go far enough.

COLE: You know, I think that 10,000 was a start. You know, 10,000 is not enough to meet the need, but it did show us that student debt cancellation⁴ is possible. For years and years and years, people said that this was impossible to see broad-spread cancellation of student debt. And so what happened - what we saw was that our president did come through partially⁵ on his promises around cancellation, and so this is the start to make sure that we are seeing further and further cancellation down the line, you know?

Throughout the Biden administration, there has been smaller bits of cancellation for folks who have disabilities, for veterans, for folks who were attending for-profit institutions. And so there have been smaller bits and pieces happening, and this is the largest piece that we've seen so far. And I think the real victory here was those who are seeing cancellation of up to 20,000 who are Pell Grant recipients⁶, which includes a lot of Black borrowers and a lot of young people and folks who attend HBCUs.

MARTIN: But in an opinion piece before the decision came out, you said capping forgiveness at $10,000 for individual borrowers would be a, quote, "devastating⁷ political mistake for President Biden." Do you still believe that?

COLE: You know, there are a lot of questions still in terms of how are we going to navigate⁸ this process, right? This idea of means testing or an income cap or a threshold definitely presents some questions in terms of how are people going to navigate that system, right? This calls into question in terms of what does this actually mean in terms of seeing that cancellation happen and hit people's accounts. And so we really were pushing to ensure that, you know, the president did broad-spread cancellation, which is a possibility, to ensure that we see the most amount of relief for the most amount of borrowers, right? We have to recognize that 125,000 in New York isn't the same as 125,000 in Georgia or Texas or Florida or other places across the country.

MARTIN: So the administration is going to feel like it's accomplished⁹ something on this issue, especially ahead of the midterms. If you had five minutes with the president in the Oval Office, what do you say about the next critical step?

COLE: You know, I say that this is a great step forward, and I appreciate the effort to ensure that we see cancellation in this lifetime, and so I'm glad that we were able to make this happen and look forward to further cancellation down the line.

MARTIN: Wisdom Cole, national director of the NAACP's Youth and College Division. Thanks for your time this morning.

COLE: Thanks for having me.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 attain   

vt.达到，获得，完成

参考例句：

• I used the scientific method to attain this end. 我用科学的方法来达到这一目的。
• His painstaking to attain his goal in life is praiseworthy. 他为实现人生目标所下的苦功是值得称赞的。

3 impeding   

a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的

参考例句：

• Fallen rock is impeding the progress of rescue workers. 坠落的石头阻滞了救援人员的救援进程。
• Is there sufficient room for the kiosk and kiosk traffic without impeding other user traffic? 该环境下是否有足够的空间来摆放信息亭？信息亭是否会妨碍交通或者行走？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

5 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

6 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

8 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

9 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。