CUNY’s Debt Forgiveness Eases Stress for Students

Lauren Rottenberg, a sophomore at Queens College, is early in her academic career but already feels stressed by the over $3,000 in debt she has accumulated after only three semesters in college. She was ecstatic when she heard earlier this year about the CUNY Comeback Program, which helps students who suffered financial hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic. “My debt is only a little bit compared to a lot of other people’s that I know,” says Rottenberg, 18. “But still knowing that I have over $3,000 dollars just drives me insane. I didn’t know when or where I was going to get that type of money to pay it off.

Earlier this year CUNY announced the Comeback Program to help students like Rottenberg eliminate unpaid debt. More than 43.2 million American student borrowers find themselves in debt, and it generally takes decades to pay off those loans. After graduating college, students often put aside major milestones in life like getting a car or moving out of their parents’ house due to unpaid debt.

To help, CUNY launched the Comeback Program at the end of July. Eligible students who were enrolled at CUNY schools from March 13, 2020, through Spring 2021 who have accrued tuition and fee balances during that time, will have those unpaid debts wiped out. This initiative is also meant to help remove financial barriers for some 50,000 CUNY students who want to move up the economic ladder. Rottenberg believes that the CUNY Comeback Program has allowed her to breathe a sigh of relief. “I think this debt forgiveness program is a huge opportunity to students like me who are always stressing about this issue,” she says.

Patriycia Danowska, 21, an education major at Brooklyn College, hopes to take advantage of the program. When the COVOID-19 pandemic hit back in March 2020, she said that her mental health declined rapidly from all the changes and having to move back in with her parents. She ended up failing that semester, leaving her with more than $14,000 in debt. “I was struggling with everything,” she says. “From having to move back in, losing my job, and taking care of my parents while also struggling to pay for school, which was already hard to pay, I had no idea what to do.”

Dillion Li, 20, a first-semester graduate student at Hunter College, is also feeling the pinch. “It felt like I was drowning in anxiety,” he says. “I’ve heard about what the program has done for others. If I can also get in on that it would save me tons from the anxiety that comes with having school debt.”