AURORA, Colo. — Some Coloradans riddled with student loans are celebrating President Biden's announcement Wednesday afternoon that would eliminate between $10,000-$20,000 in debt.
As a single mother of four, life hasn't been cheap for Maisha Fields.
"Raising children by myself, putting them through college themselves, making sure that they have all the things that they need, the extracurricular activities that they're involved in, paying a mortgage, paying a car note, and then also paying federal loans," she said.
Her student loan debt at one point totaled about $70,000. While some of that has been paid off and forgiven through her career as a healthcare worker, she still has about $42,000 left.
"It's hard to make ends meet sometimes," Fields said.
On Wednesday, things got a little easier for her and millions of others.
"I feel like I won the lottery today, I'm not gonna lie about that," she said. "I would have loved if the administration, say, were making it completely debt clear and free, but I am grateful for $10,000 because it's $10,000 I didn't have."
For Fields, this helps paint a path forward to becoming debt-free, but she acknowledges the work is just beginning.
"Justice looks like an education system where everyone has access and doesn't leave an educational system with $50,000, $100,000 or $300,000 worth of debt and no job to go to," she said.
She's hoping our next generation will continue to hold our elected officials accountable to make higher education for accessible for all.
"Students who are in college right now, they're gonna continue to be a part of that narrative to hold people accountable and responsible to lift that burden for them as well," Fields said.
