Two years ago, Brendan Johnson at age 28 became the youngest countywide elected official in southeast Michigan.
Johnson , a Democrat from Rochester Hills, flipped a county commission seat that had been held by Republicans. But along with electoral success, he had baggage: about $150,000 in college debt, accrued after getting a bachelor's degree at Michigan State University followed by a costly master's in foreign service from Georgetown University in Washington, D. C.
"I'm not proud of that, but I know I did the right thing, getting those degrees," Johnson said on Monday at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, to an audience that included other county leaders.
For Johnson, since getting elected, doing "the right thing" has led him to push for Oakland County to ease the burden of student debt on Oakland County residents.
Johnson, as chair of the county board of commissioners' Legislative Affairs and Government Appropriations Committee, led the board to earmark $500,000 for the Oakland County Student Debt Relief Initiative ‒ adopted on July 18 and set to roll out by Labor Day on the Internet.
The program will let residents of Oakland County, as well as county employees, get free access to the services of Savi ‒ a nationwide nonprofit that "helps borrowers through the entire journey of their loan," from finding new payment plans, to qualifying for federal forgiveness options, to overcoming obstacles with the for-profit loan servicers of student debt, many of which are notorious for creating paperwork hassles, overcharging clients and keeping those who call on hold for hours.
Dealing with loan servicers "can be really frustrating," Johnson told the group."I've only been out of school for a few years and my servicer has been changed six times," he said. A daunting student debt load keeps Johnson's generation "from buying houses when we want, having children when we want, doing all sorts of things," he added.
The new initiative is the first of its kind for any county in the country. Until now, the nonprofit Savi has contracted only with unions, employers and financial institutions, said Savi spokeswoman Lindsay Clark. Savi's aid starts with helping graduates enroll in a federal loan forgiveness program, Clark said. Countless applicants have been rejected for minuscule errors, leading them to assume that they don't qualify when, often, they do, Clark said.
"There's been a lot of effort in the Biden administration in the last couple of years, trying to make this process easier. But then, after they get the loan and graduate, when these loans go into collection ‒ that's when the borrower has to call and deal with a servicer.
"These are private companies contracted with the Department of Education, and they make all kinds of mistakes, and they're often very difficult to deal with. We handle all of that for the borrower," Clark said, at Monday's OU presentation.
County residents and employees will be able to go to the Oakland County website starting this fall to reach Savi's load advisers, said Oakland County Commissioner Dave Woodward, D-Royal Oak. Savi on average can lower a student-loan payment by $150 per month, Woodward said.
"We've been asking, demanding, begging our young people to get a higher education. Helping them pay for it is the least we can do," Woodward said.
Yet, at OU, which hosted the county’s talk with reporters, student debt rarely grows to the daunting level that Johnson bright home from Georgetown University, OU officials said.
About 60% of OU’s students graduate without any debt, thanks to numerous scholarships, said OU President Ora Pescovitz, M.D. For others, OU’s average debt load after graduation is a relatively modest $23,000, Pescovitz said.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Oakland County to roll out online program to help those with student debt
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