Starting this week, some student loan borrowers in default may receive notice that their wages are being garnished directly from their paychecks in order to restart repayment. This is just one of many Trump era changes to student loan repayment programs that is negatively impacting borrowers.

Of the nearly 43 million student loan borrowers in the US, only 40% of them are current on their payments. Since changes made in 2020 to protect borrowers during the early days of the Covid pandemic, confusing rules about payment plans have come and gone between the Biden and Trump administrations. Furthermore, thanks to cuts at the Department of Education, many borrowers are completely lost on how to properly restart their payments or stay on paths they thought would lead to forgiveness of their remaining balance.

Joining us to discuss these struggles and how borrowers can organize to protect themselves and others is Press Secretary and organizer for the Debt Collective, Braxton Brewington. He helps us navigate the current state of the shifting and messy student debt landscape and what rights borrowers have.

• News Brief: How Corporate Media Laid the Groundwork for a Rightwing Incitement Campaign in Minnesota by Citations Needed

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We are off until the new calendar year. In the meantime we hope you enjoy a sampling of episodes from our network of podcasts!

Episode Description from November 14, 2024: Following last week's elections, Scot and Sue are joined by Daniel Hunter, co-founder of Choose Democracy, to discuss how we respond to authoritarians emboldened by the election results. In the episode, they take a deeper look together at Daniel's recent post-election essay 10 Ways to Be Prepared and Grounded Now That Trump Has Won (first published by Waging Nonviolence and then shared by Convergence). What should we be doing to defend our democratic institutions? What can we learn from other countries fighting the rise of authoritarianism in their borders? Daniel also touches on the transformative power of trusting ourselves and making space for grieving in movement work.

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We are off until the new calendar year. In the meantime we hope you enjoy a sampling of episodes from our network of podcasts!

In this episode, Sha Grogan-Brown talks with guest Le Tim Ly, Chief Operating Officer of Center for Empowered Politics, about how multi-entity infrastructure can improve the resilience of organizations.

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Support our end-of-year fundraising drive.

• Contact us: mailbag@convergencemag.com
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• Support this show and movement media like it: convergencemag.com/donate
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