Bill Text: IL HR0091 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urges the United States Congress to recognize outstanding student debt as a crisis for Americans seeking an education that endangers the well-being of Americans and to work to develop and enact legislation that will forgive student loans for all current student loan borrowers and prevent future students from shouldering an insurmountable burden of debt.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2021-05-06 - Chief Co-Sponsor Changed to Rep. Lakesia Collins [HR0091 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HR0091-Introduced.html

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HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, According to the Federal Reserve, 54% of
Americans who went to college assumed some form of debt in
order to do so; and
WHEREAS, Over 45 million people in the United States
collectively owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loan debt,
making it the second highest form of consumer debt, behind
only home mortgages, and higher than credit card debt and auto
loan debt; and
WHEREAS, Student loans have a higher delinquency rate than
credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages; the delinquency rate
(90 days or more overdue) for student loans is 10.85%;
comparatively, the delinquency rate for auto loans is 4.69%,
and the delinquency rate for credit cards is 8.32%; and
WHEREAS, Over 1.5 million student loan borrowers in the
State of Illinois have a collective balance of $49 billion in
student loans, with a student loan delinquency rate (90+ days
delinquent) of 11.4%; and
WHEREAS, Student loan debt has caused great division
between Americans; the average debt for African American
bachelor's degree recipients was $34,000, compared to $30,000

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for white bachelor's recipients and just under $25,000 for
Hispanic and Asian bachelor's recipients; and
WHEREAS, African American students who complete a
bachelor's degree are more likely to struggle to repay their
loans, and 12 years later, the typical African American
student who entered college in 2003 and who completed a
bachelor's degree owed 114% of what they originally borrowed,
compared to 47% for white graduates; additionally, 49% of
African American students who borrowed for their undergraduate
education defaulted on a federal student loan, representing
the highest default of all borrowers; and
WHEREAS, Student loan debt has created a clear divide
among all gendered people; for example, women hold nearly
two-thirds of the outstanding student debt in the United
States, almost $929 billion as of early 2019 according to
studies; the burden of student debt is compounded by existing
and intersecting inequalities, women working full time with
college degrees make 26% less than their male counterparts;
and
WHEREAS, One year after graduating, female college
graduates working full time are paid 18% less than their male
peers; by four years after graduation, that gap widens to 20%;
and

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WHEREAS, A 2019 Federal Reserve study found that student
loan debt is linked to over 20% of the decline in
homeownership, which is recognized as one of the most
important ways to build wealth; homeownership has returned to
50-year lows, and the African American homeownership rate in
2019 was as low as it was when the Fair Housing Act was passed
in 1968; and
WHEREAS, Research from the National Association of
Realtors revealed that 61% of millennials said they have
delayed buying a house because of student loan debt, with the
average student loan borrower delaying the purchase of their
first home by an average of seven years; and
WHEREAS, Student loan servicers are a critical link in
determining whether borrowers will have a pathway towards
paying off their debt or be continually rolled into one
unaffordable payment after another; and
WHEREAS, Without strong federal and state guidelines,
servicers have engaged in a range of abusive practices that
include misapplying student loan payments in ways which
maximize fees to the servicer and placing borrowers into plans
that delay the debt rather than repay it; and

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WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Education has recently
signaled that it is willing to make it easier for servicers of
federal student loan debt to operate with less oversight and
fewer protections for students by rolling back existing
federal guidance and by seeking to thwart states' rights to
protect students in their own states against student loan
abuses; and
WHEREAS, Several states have already begun to take
legislative and enforcement actions related to unfair and
deceptive practices of student loan servicers; therefore, be
it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we urge the United States Congress to recognize outstanding
student debt as a crisis for Americans seeking an education
that endangers the well-being of Americans and to work to
develop and enact legislation that will forgive student loans
for all current student loan borrowers and prevent future
students from shouldering an insurmountable burden of debt;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
delivered to the President of the United States, the U.S.
Senate Majority Leader, the U.S. Senate Minority Leader, the

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U.S. Speaker of the House, the U.S. House of Representatives
Minority Leader, and all members of the Illinois Congressional
Delegation.