On July 1, millions of households across America received what is likely their biggest bill increase of the year: their student loan payments. As President Trump’s changes to the student loan system take effect, millions of households are being kicked out of affordable repayment plans into plans that have doubled or tripled. 

Amid the affordability crisis, housing crisis, and skyrocketing health insurance rates, these surges in student loan payments are utterly unmanageable.

That’s why we are hosting a New York State Day of Action to call our elected representatives and demand a payment pause. We need your help to make sure that Senators Schumer and Gillibrand hear us loud and clear: pause the payments. Please use this form to guide you and to report back!

Join our group, live call sessions on August 10th at 10am, 12pm and 2pm if you’d like support making these calls and find more details on the event below: 

Frequently Asked Questions

• I’m comfortable calling on my own. Can I skip the event? Calling is what matters, not whether you make the call with us. That said, we think there are good reasons to drop in anyway: we’ll walk through where the campaign stands, who our priority targets are, and what’s coming next. You can also just use the call to remind yourself to make the calls! And, either way, please fill this out to let us know that you made some calls and, if you’re willing, to tell us how they went!
• I’m not from New York. Should I still join? Yes – we are prioritizing Senator Schumer because he is the Senate Minority Leader. Anyone in the country can call Schumer, and his position on this shapes what other Senate Democrats do. That said, we think it’s important for all student loan debtors to call their representatives to express their confusion and frustration and to call for an immediate payment pause. We want as many calls hitting the Hill from as many states as possible this week. Being out of state is not a reason to sit this one out.
• What if I’m not comfortable making calls at all? You have a couple of options! First, you can join the Zoom anyway and we’ll coach you through it! You can listen to other people make their calls first, you’ll have a script in front of you, and nobody is going to put you on the spot. If you’d still rather not, you can absolutely send an email or write a letter instead!
• Are there any priority targets for this Day of Action? Yes! In New York, we are most focused on Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. We need both of them to commit to doing more on student loans beyond just sympathizing with borrowers and sending strongly worded letters. We also want to get other New York City-based elected officials, such as Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Mayor Mamdani, to speak publicly about the student loan crisis. Beyond that, we think there’s a ton of value in asking every single elected representative in New York what they’re doing to help us solve the student loan crisis we are facing.
• Do I have to use my own phone? For the phone calls themselves, yes. If picking up the phone is a hard no for you, email your members of Congress instead. It still counts, it still gets logged, and we’d rather have you in this by email than not in it at all.
• Can I ask the Debt Collective a few questions about my own student loans on this call? This isn’t the place for individual loan questions. This session is organized around calling elected Representatives asking them to publicly call for a pause on payments and interest. Your specific situation — what you owe, when your deadline actually is, which plan makes sense — is too important to answer in passing on a group call. That said, our partners at the Student Debt Crisis Center have many upcoming information sessions and some amazing resources on their website that might be able to help point you in the right direction.