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Module: Education (Debt + Outcomes + Fair Terms)

Purpose: reduce the monthly squeeze by making education and training easier to compare, easier to plan around, and less likely to turn into a long paperwork mess.

This module is designed to be runnable by normal people in small weekly sprints.

What is happening (1-2 sentences)

Education becomes a squeeze when price is high, payoff is unclear, and households carry most of the risk.

The trap is not just debt. It is debt plus bad guidance, policy churn, and weak accountability for programs and intermediaries.

Why it is happening (mechanism, plain language)

Education risk usually lives in one of three places:

A) bad information before enrollment
B) unsafe defaults and relief delays after enrollment
C) weak local alternatives and weak accountability for non-degree or intermediary programs

If families cannot compare pathways honestly, the system quietly shifts risk onto them.

What good looks like (principle)

A healthier education system has:

• clear outcomes before enrollment
• safer repayment defaults after enrollment
• less paperwork and fewer late surprises
• credible non-debt or lower-debt paths with labor-market value
• simple public metrics so people can tell which paths are actually working

Local and state levers

This is not only a federal lane. Useful local and state targets include:

• workforce boards
• community colleges
• state higher-ed agencies
• public-sector hiring screens
• public grant or tuition-assistance programs

Default plays (recommended)

Default Play A: Pathways dashboard

Run this when the problem is confusion before people commit.

One Ask (template): Publish a local pathways dashboard that compares cost, completion, debt, and first-year earnings across four-year, two-year, apprenticeship, and certificate routes.

Minimum components:

• cost and time to complete
• typical debt
• completion rate
• first-year earnings or placement proxy

Why it wins: It creates honest comparison without needing to settle every ideological argument first.

Default Play B: Degree-screen cleanup

Run this when jobs are using degree requirements as lazy filters.

One Ask (template): Review public-sector or large-employer job postings, remove unnecessary degree screens, and publish which roles now accept skills-based or alternative pathways.

Minimum components:

• target employer or public system
• role review list
• alternative qualification language
• reporting on what changed

Why it wins: It creates a real local lever instead of treating education as only a loan-servicing issue.

Definition of Done (every module sprint)

At the end of any Education sprint, you should have:

1. One ask
2. One target map
3. One 1-page ask memo (250-400 words)
4. One 90-second testimony script
5. One scoreboard stub (3-5 metrics + data source)
6. One follow-up date
7. One public-record step if ignored

Target map (who can say yes)

Local targets

• community college leadership
• workforce board leadership
• public-school career and technical education leadership
• major local employers and public HR offices

State targets

• higher education agency
• attorney general or consumer protection office for deceptive programs
• legislative higher-education committee chair
• state workforce or labor department

Intermediary accountability targets

• bootcamp operators
• training vendors
• recruiters
• servicers or state-facing borrower help offices

Receipts stubs (what to gather before you argue)

You only need a few items to build shared reality.

Pathways and outcomes:

• tuition and fee sheets
• program-level completion rates
• debt ranges if available
• first-year earnings or placement proxy

Repayment and relief:

• processing timelines
• borrower complaints or case files
• transfer or servicer-change notices

Local leverage:

• public-sector job postings with degree screens
• workforce-board or community-college pathway documents
• vendor contracts or performance terms where intermediaries are public-facing

Escalation ladder (what to do when ignored)

Level 1 - direct ask

• email staff owner + elected sponsor with one-page memo

Level 2 - office hours

• ask who owns the dashboard, disclosure rule, or hiring-screen review

Level 3 - public record

• testimony or written comment at board, agency, or budget meeting

Level 4 - accountability move

• request program outcomes, contract terms, or complaint data

Level 5 - budget or rule change

• add reporting requirements, disclosure standards, or pathway funding

Scoreboard (choose 3-5 metrics)

Pick a small set that matches your play.

If running Play A (pathways dashboard)

• median debt by pathway
• completion rate by pathway
• first-year earnings or placement
• transfer success rate
• time to completion

If running Play B (degree-screen cleanup)

• share of postings with unnecessary degree screens
• roles converted to skills-based criteria
• applicant volume or diversity proxy
• retention or performance proxy if available

If working repayment and relief

• processing time for relief requests
• repeated forbearance cycles
• complaint volume
• default or delinquency proxy

60-minute Education Sprint (minimum viable)

If you only have an hour:

1. 10 min: pick pathways, repayment, or local hiring screens
2. 10 min: build your target map
3. 20 min: write the one-page ask memo + scoreboard stub
4. 10 min: send two emails
5. 10 min: schedule follow-up + log

Done. Repeat next week.

One Ask examples (ready to use)

• “Publish a local pathways dashboard by [date] that compares cost, completion, debt, and first-year earnings across major routes.”
• “Set a 90-day processing standard for relief requests and publish monthly performance.”
• “Review degree requirements for public-sector roles and remove screens that are not actually needed for the job.”
• “Require plain-language pre-enrollment disclosures for publicly supported programs.”

Bridge language (calm, non-tribal)

• “I am not anti-college. I am anti-trap.”
• “If people are going to borrow, they should be able to plan around the terms.”
• “Simple for borrowers. Strict for intermediaries.”
• “We should be honest about which paths pay off and which mostly shift risk onto families.”

Weekly cadence (how to keep it small and real)

• Week 1: pick the bottleneck + send the ask
• Week 2: office hours or staff follow-up
• Week 3: public record step
• Week 4: follow-up for inclusion and reporting

Then repeat or pivot based on what moved.

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