Education The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is broken — let’s fix it Congress created the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program in 2007 to provide public service workers with student debt relief in exchange for a decade of service […] MECEP Posted September 1, 2021 Tags Education, Federal, Higher Education, Student Debt
Education Protections for private student loan borrowers protect seniors and people with disabilities In 2019, Maine led the nation by passing the Student Loan Bill of Rights (SLBOR) to address the predatory loan servicing practices that are exacerbating Maine’s student […] MECEP Posted May 18, 2021 Tags Consumer Protection, Education, Higher Education, Student Debt
Education COVID compounds Maine’s education debt crisis. The time to act is now. MECEP economic policy analyst James Myall contributed to this blog post. There was a student loan crisis before the pandemic, now it is even worse. Despite gains in recent […] Jody Harris Posted April 9, 2021 Tags Coronavirus, Education, Higher Education, Student Debt
Education One easy way for Maine to increase grants for college students with low incomes this year Thanks to federal forbearance on student loan payments during the pandemic, Maine has an opportunity to make college more affordable this year for students with low incomes by […] Jody Harris Posted March 17, 2021 Tags Education, Federal, Higher Education, Student Debt
Education A Third Of Maine Student Loan Borrowers Could Have Their Debt Eliminated Under Plan Floated By Biden Jody Harris, the associate director of the left-leaning Maine Center for Economic Policy, said that cancelling debt could be particularly important for borrowers facing financial distress, who may be at […] Maine Public Posted January 20, 2021 Tags Federal, Higher Education, Student Debt
Jobs and Income, Maine’s Economy REPORT: State of Working Maine 2020 Download the PDF version Download Introduction: Race Equity Means A Stronger, Fairer Economy for All Mainers Race equity means: A stronger, fairer economy Better job opportunities Realizing […] James Myall Posted November 9, 2020 Tags Economic Security, Economy, Education, Higher Education, Incomes, Inequality, Job Quality, Racial Equity, Wages
Jobs and Income How Maine’s public university system became one of the biggest threats to worker protections James Myall, a policy analyst with the Maine Center for Economic Policy, who consulted with Tipping on the overtime bill, said, “They tend to oppose anything that is […] Beacon Posted October 30, 2019 Tags Higher Education, Incomes, Job Quality
Education Student debt collection reform, for-profit college rules top wins for Maine consumers this year While President Donald Trump’s administration continues its efforts to systemically roll back consumer protections, Maine has made moves to protect residents and ward off financial predators. Maine’s […] Jody Harris Posted July 17, 2019 Tags Consumer Protection, Education, Higher Education, Student Debt
Education, Jobs and Income ‘Student Loan Bill of Rights’ will protect Maine students from predatory lenders “This bill will prevent giant financial corporations from padding their bottom lines by preying on Mainers who just want to responsibly pay down their student debt,” Maine […] Beacon Posted June 11, 2019 Tags Consumer Protection, Higher Education, Student Debt
Education, Jobs and Income STATEMENT: Student Loan Bill of Rights will protect Mainers from predatory Wall Street corporations CONTACT Mario Moretto mario@mecep.org 207-620-1101 AUGUSTA, Maine — Jody Harris, associate director of Maine Center for Economic Policy, released the following statement following the Legislature’s enactment Monday […] Posted June 10, 2019 Tags Consumer Protection, Higher Education, Student Debt