More than 21,000 City Colleges students who dropped out over the last decade because they couldn’t afford tuition and fees could clear their debt and return to earn their certificates or degrees, under an innovative mayoral program unveiled Tuesday.
Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel pioneered the Chicago Star Scholarship that guaranteed free City Colleges tuition to any Chicago Public Schools graduate with a “B” average.
Now, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has “Fresh Start,” a four-year college debt forgiveness program beginning this fall and continuing through 2023 tailor-made to help City Colleges play a pivotal role in Chicago’s economic comeback from the economic devastation caused by the pandemic.
Lightfoot and City Colleges Chancellor Juan Salgado announced the program during a news conference Tuesday at Harold Washington College, 30 E. Lake St.
They talked about the fact that more than 21,000 City Colleges students have left the system over the last decade in good academic standing, primarily because they had piled up debt in tuition and fees. They talked about their desire to lure them back and train them for jobs in the post-pandemic recovery by clearing their debt.
“Many of Chicago’s students are kept from finishing college due to debt that forces them to pause their academic journey,” Lightfoot was quoted as saying in a press release.
“With Fresh Start, former City Colleges students will be able to finish college debt-free, pursue their dream careers and set themselves up for success in the post-COVID economy. This exciting new initiative is the next big step to ensure all Chicagoans, no matter their circumstances, have equal access to the resources needed for upward mobility.”
Salgado said City Colleges students with outstanding debt are stuck in a vicious cycle that turns career dreams into nightmares.
That debt means “they cannot register for courses and they cannot complete their certificate or degree,” the chancellor was quoted as saying.
“We are committed to helping Chicagoans erase their debt, complete a credential and launch a career path that leads to better jobs, better pay and upward mobility for themselves and their families.”
Lightfoot portrayed Fresh Start as the latest chapter in her broader plan to break the city’s destructive “addiction” to fines and fees that unfairly saddles an inordinate number of Black and Hispanic Chicagoans with debts they cannot afford.
Under the plan, more than 21,000 former City Colleges students, some of whom are as little as one course or one semester shy of earning a degree, could return debt-free to “finish what they started,” according to City Hall.
Half their outstanding debt would be forgiven if they remain enrolled and make what the city calls “satisfactory academic progress” through the first term. The rest would be wiped off the books when they graduate — either with an associate degree or an advanced or basic certificate in one of several specialty fields highlighted by Emanuel’s colleges-to-careers makeover at City Colleges. They include health care, hospitality, transportation distribution and logistics and business management and information technology.
The 21,000 eligible students are 51% Black and 34% Hispanic. They come from neighborhoods that have borne the brunt of the coronavirus because of what Lightfoot has called “institutional racism” and systemic inequities existing long before the pandemic.
Returning students must: enroll in at least one credit course; pay a one-time, non-refundable $75 reinstatement fee; meet with advisors to develop plans to support their academic and financial goals; complete the FAFSA federal student aid form, if eligible, by an Aug. 1 deadline; satisfy new payment arrangements, either through a payment plan or financial aid; and remain enrolled for the current term while maintaining “satisfactory academic progress.”
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July 15, 2020 at 01:00AM
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City Colleges students could return, finish degree under new debt forgiveness plan - Chicago Sun-Times
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