Bernie Sanders has made an improbable run in the presidential race, essentially pulling neck-and-neck with presumed favorite Hillary Clinton. Now, Clinton is pulling out some of Sanders’s old tricks to gain support among millennials.
According to the Huffington Post, Clinton lambasted a major student loan contractor on Saturday, claiming that they are “misleading” borrowers and “doing some really terrible things.”
Navient Corp., the nation’s largest student loan specialist, has been under fire over the past several years for mistreating borrowers. Most notably, Navient has been accused of threatening to seize assets from borrowers simply because a co-signer of their loan died.
Additionally, the Justice Department accused Navient of knowingly cheating military members out of approximately $60 million in a decade-long scheme. While service members were fighting in the Middle East, Navient allegedly denied them their right to lower monthly payments under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
In August, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told Navient that it had amassed enough evidence to sue the company in court. Clinton has begun using Navient as a poster-child for her stance on student loan debt, adding that the contractor’s “behavior is outrageous” and that she is “totally appalled” by the company.
The average class of 2015 college graduate with student loan debt will have to pay back a little more than $35,000. Many Americans believe that the problem has spiraled out of control, and much of Bernie Sanders’s success among millennials can be directly attributed to his consistent support for tuition-free public colleges.
In September, the Huffington Post reported on a then little-known senator named Bernie Sanders. Given that he was self-proclaimed socialist, many political pundits dismissed his chances of giving Clinton a run for her money, let alone winning the Democratic nomination.
Even in September, a central pillar of Sanders’ campaign was affordable education. He has introduced the College for All Act to Congress, which would make all four-year universities in the U.S. tuition-free.
Navient executives have denied wrongdoing for the most part, but CEO Jack Remondi did apologize for how the company has treated troops in the past.
It remains to be seen if Clinton’s focus on student loan debt will attract more young voters, but one thing is for sure: there’s still a long way to go before November.