8 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G M A R C H | A P R I L 2 0 1 7
C
aitlyn thomas, an RN
who works at one of
Washington, D.C.'s biggest
hospitals, picked a tough
time to go from college to
a career.
It was 2009, with the economic catastro-
phe blowing through Main Street communi-
ties like a gale force wind. Graduating from
college with thousands of dollars in student
loan debt, Caitlyn could only find one job,
working in a hospital lab that failed to
provide health benefits.
"I couldn't afford rent and had to move
back home with my parents. I had doctor's
bills I couldn't afford to pay," Caitlyn recalls.
"There are tens of millions of people just
like me," said Caitlyn, speaking at an early
March press conference with Sen. Bernie
Sanders and a roomful of other legislators
for the introduction of legislation to make all
public colleges and universities tuition free.
"With a staggering $1.3 trillion of
outstanding student debt, this is a crisis of
very serious proportions," she added.
A crisis that strikes at the heart of
democracy. In our stratified society based all
too often on socioeconomic status and class,
education is increasingly a barometer for the
opportunity to have a good-paying job,
decent healthcare coverage, and other living
conditions that constitute a civil society.
The fight for public education has long
RoseAnn DeMoro
Executive Director, National Nurses United
Indebted for Life
Outrageous student loan costs are shackling whole
generations, and threatening democracy
RN Caitlyn Thomas
shares her story
of college debt at
a press conference
announcing the
introduction of
Sen. Bernie Sanders'
legislation to
make all public
higher education
tuition free.
