President Joe Biden won the vote of Andretta in 2020 when he promised to fix the student-loan industry.
Andretta's student-debt load, at $163,000, hasn't gone down since Biden took office, and she told Insider she felt betrayed.
"I've been a Democrat since I was a child," said Andretta. I was an independent throughout the last year because I was so frustrated and discouraged. One of the main reasons why I was in favor of Biden was because I really felt that he was going to help us with the student-loan problem.
A woman with $163,000 in student debt.
Andretta is named Andretta.
She obtained her PhD from Teachers College at Columbia University. She was unable to finish the program because of her back surgery. She wanted to finish her degree once she recovered, but the thought of taking out more loans was too prohibitive.
After leaving her PhD program, Andretta worked as a special-education teacher and now runs her own agency where she works with children and adolescents with autism. She said her career options are limited because she won't have an advanced degree when she stops working with children. She has to repay three times what her degree cost because of the ballooning interest.
At 53, Andretta is still looking at $160,000 worth of debt when she only borrowed a third of it. It's just so frustrating. It was frightening. It is a very vulnerable position.
I have more anxiety than I have in years.
After her surgery, Andretta put her loans into forbearance because she was not making enough money to pay her bills. She had student debt that went from $40,000 to $80,000 because of interest.
Although she now makes a six-figure salary, the majority of her income went to her student-loan bills before they were paid, and she's only been able to put "the tiniest amount" into her savings account and 401(k) since.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to retire," Andretta said. I don't know if I'll be able to live in New York. I've been looking at other states because it's so expensive to live here and I'm going to have to pay more bills.
The Education Department is preparing to transition 43 million federal student-loan borrowers back into repayment on February 1 after a two-year pause. Some advocates and lawmakers are concerned that the pandemic is continuing and that borrowers aren't yet financially equipped to take on additional bills.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the debt was overwhelming. Interest rates will pile up if we don't extend the pause. Students owe money. We're not getting out of this as quickly as we would like.
Andretta agreed. She said she was living paycheck to paycheck. She said that she has more anxiety than she has in years because of the $400 bill coming in February.
Democrats were supposed to be the party of the people.
Biden promised to fix flawed student-loan-forgiveness programs and approve $10,000 in student-debt cancellation immediately. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which forgives debt for public servants, such as teachers, after ten years of qualified payments, but ran up a 98% denial rate, has been followed through on by his Education Department.
He has canceled about $11.5 billion in student debt for borrowers who were defrauded by for-profit schools, which are actions provided to him under the law.
Many borrowers are disappointed that Biden has remained quiet on the topic of student-debt cancellation. An independent voter gave the president a B-minus rating for not yet delivering on his student-debt promises, after she appeared on CNN to weigh in on Biden's actions so far.
Amikka Burl, an independent voter, said on CNN that he has delivered on many promises, but some of them have not. When he was running for president, he promised to wipe out $10,000 worth of student loan debt for everyone. I am waiting for that to happen, because it hasn't come to fruition yet.
The Democrats have a year to act on the student-debt crisis or risk losing control of the House. Andretta said that it would play a role in who she votes for.
She said that she felt like the Democrats were supposed to be the party of the people. I could not see myself moving anywhere else except to the party of the people. I don't feel like they represent me at this point in time because I'm one of those people. I have to rethink my options.
Do you have a story about student debt? You can reach out to her at asheffey@insider.com.
