[VIDEO] Students demand forgiveness for college debt, blame the ‘system’

On the one-year anniversary of student debt hitting one trillion dollars, Campus Reform hit the streets to ask current and former students who is to blame.

Of course each student had a different answer on how to solve the looming student-debt crisis, but most agreed the borrowers, at least, are not to blame.

“It [student debt] is kind of stigmatized still, because people feel like if they have any debt, that’s their responsibility, it’s their fault, if they can’t pay it off, it’s their fault, when really it’s the system as it’s been kind of set up now,” a junior history and women’s studies major at George Mason University (GMU) told Campus Reform on Thursday.

WATCH: Students demand forgiveness for college debt

The student was part of a Rally on Student Debt that took place earlier in the day on campus.

Another participant, a recent graduate of (GMU) who studied sociology and women’s studies with aspirations of becoming a high school music teacher agreed the “system” was to blame.

“If folks like me have $104,000 out in loans, there seems to be a pretty apparent structural problem,” he said.

Students who had gathered for the United States Student Association press conference near the Capitol also expressed similar sentiments.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily anyone’s fault, per se,” said one student at the press conference.

This student — just like every other student interviewed — advocated for student loan debt forgiveness.

She also added that no matter what happens, she has no regrets.

“I know that I can be a better grant writer, I know that I can be a better public manager because of my education, and it’s worth it to me to owe $84,347, and I didn’t include the cents,” she concluded.

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