Kevin had been shot in the head in his Burlington apartment.
“Everybody in Vermont was so amazing. Like, electric bill was forgiven, you know, gas bill was forgiven, cable. … People were so moved by this kid that was murdered in his own home,” DeOliveira-Longinetti said.
She said the federal government wiped out Kevin’s Stafford loan debts as well, but the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority – the source of nearly $19,000 in additional student loans – did not.
“Please accept our condolences on your loss… Monthly bill statements will continue to be sent to you,” DeOliveira-Longinetti read from the HESAA letter.
When she gets the bill in the mail, it’s a reminder that her son is dead and will not graduate, DeOliveira-Longinetti said.
“I know what a co-signing is. If it defaults, I’m responsible. I know that,” she said. “You’re not going to say to your kid, you can’t go to college because of $4,000.”
Earlier this month, an investigation by ProPublica and The New York Times looked at HESAA and quoted a lawyer who likened it to “state-sanctioned loan-sharking.” ProPublica reporter Annie Waldman interviewed dozens of borrowers including a cancer patient who lost his job and couldn’t repay his loans. HESAA sued him for $266,000.
That scene from Mamma Mia where all the women abandon their work to go dance and jump into the ocean with each other is what female solidarity and liberation looks like and it’s goals.
Big Mean Sweaty Dyke 