American University Staff Struggling With Student Debt Win Some Relief

By Eloise Goldsmith

Source: Eloise Goldsmith

On the morning of August 26, American University (AU) students filled Bender Arena for convocation, a yearly tradition where freshman and returning classmen are welcomed by faculty and the president. Outside, over 200 American University staff held down a picket line, chanting “no contract, no peace.”  The staff, who are represented by SEIU Local 500, had been on strike for 5 days to demand better wages.

In a stunning show of solidarity, hundreds of students left convocation and joined the picketers outside when American University President Sylvia Burwell started her address. 

Later that afternoon, staff successfully negotiated a tentative contract that included pay increases and raises commensurate with years worked at AU. Sources say the contract will be ratified in the coming days. 

For some, it was the second victory that week: on Wednesday, August 24, President Biden announced that the federal government would forgive a portion of student loan debt, up to ten thousand for the vast majority of recipients and 20 thousand for lower income borrowers who received Pell Grants. 

The strike at AU, a school that charges students over $50,000 in yearly tuition, highlights the intersection of the student debt crisis and low wages for those on the university’s payroll. AU staff jobs can have a starting salary of just over $30,000 a year, when the average cost of living in Washington, D.C., America’s fifth most expensive city, is twice that amount. 

The new contract, which strike organizers say meets all of their core demands, offers some relief. 

According to Sam Sadow, a visual resources curator and member of the union’s bargaining committee, to be saddled with student debt is a common experience among American University’s staff. 

“Their debt payments, their rents going up—all that combined definitely galvanized and agitated staff to come together and demand more.”

When contacted by the Strikewave, AU declined to comment on the contract before it’s ratification. In response to a question about student debt among striking staffers, a spokesperson for the university responded that AU offers tuition remission benefits, which allow current staff to take AU courses free of charge. 

Jason D’Angelo, a member of the union who works at AU as an AUx instructor, says that their debt was a motivating factor in fighting for better pay. D’Angelo currently makes $55,000 at AU and has $172,000 in student debt, part of which comes from financing a master’s degree, which they say was a requirement for their current position at AU. According to them, paying off their debt is not possible on their current salary. 

“I did the math. I am going to retire before I pay off my debt, “ D’Angelo said.

Josh Keilholtz, another union member and an academic advisor at AU, is in a similar situation: He makes $57,750 a year and has over $90,000 in debt from financing both his undergraduate and graduate education. He said his academic advisor role is a masters-required position, but his current wage isn’t enough to comfortably pay off his student debt.

Although graduate students make up a smaller share of borrowers – just 25% according to the Brookings Institution – they hold half of all student debt, which today stands at a whopping $1.7 trillion dollars. 

The amount of debt that graduate school borrowers take on has increased in recent years, jumping 110% between 1994 and 2014, despite the fact that the increased earning potential of master’s holders can vary widely. 

According to the Center for American Progress, “there are degrees, such as a master’s in teaching or social work, that credentialing regimes require in order to work in a field in which the pay does not reflect the cost of getting that training.” D’Angelo and Keilholtz’s experiences reflect the fact some positions that require a master’s do not compensate workers enough to account for the cost of graduate schooling. 

In public conversations about student debt, graduate school loan holders tend to be offered less sympathy than their undergraduate counterparts, especially from those on the right.

“Most doctors and lawyers are going to be able to pay off their loans just fine, and graduate students made the adult decision to assume debt,” wrote Republican Senator from Nebraska Ben Sasse in a recent piece for the Atlantic.

Following Biden’s announcement that the government would forgive some student debt, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wrote on Twitter, “It’s unfair to force a truck driver to pay a loan for someone who got a PhD in gender studies.”

President Biden’s move to forgive a portion of student debt came at the urging of progressive lawmakers and activist groups and was met with joy and relief by borrowers. It will make an estimated 20 million borrowers entirely debt free. 

“I’ll take that ten grand,” said Keilholtz, though he wishes that the administration would forgive all student debt. He also expressed relief at the administration’s plan to delay the resumption of student debt payments.  

“Thank God Biden pushed it back until December, so I'm not going to be scrambling to eat.”

The strike at American University didn’t address student debt itself – though other unions have called specifically for debt relief. Their demands rested on the argument that a school’s revenue, which included $600 million from tuition in in the last fiscal year, isn’t being allocated fairly. In particular, the union called out American University President Sylvia Burwell for making over a million dollars a year in salary.

The union also alleged that the university spends hundred of dollars an hour for legal advice from Jackson Lewis, which they characterize as an anti-union law firm. 

In securing the new contract, staff who interact with students on a day to day will see a greater share of the tuition that students pay. 

Keilholtz says the economics of the situation isn’t lost on students. 

“I know a big thing that a lot of these incoming and existing students are asking is: ‘Okay, wait, I'm paying [an] exorbitant amount of money to go here. Where is it going if my advisor my, staff the registrar, the people who get me enrolled in classes aren't getting paid a living wage?’”

Students who walked out of convocation in solidarity with those on strike echoed this sentiment.

One freshman, Zebulon McKnight, said he took the time to multiply the average tuition times the size of the student body and doesn’t see how American University can justify current wages.

“They have hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said. 

“If they have that amount of money, they should be able to pay people [more].”

Eloise Goldsmith is a writer based in Washington, D.C.