S1 Ep24: Scared to Debt
Who is really to blame for the American student loan crisis and how is it perpetuated? Filmmaker Michael Camoin’s new documentary series Scared to Debt explores and reveals the depths of the American student loan crisis and the seriously flawed lending system that currently keeps borrowers in $1.8 trillion of debt. Nikki received a sneak peek at the first episode of the series. As the founder ...
35m Aug 12, 2021
35m
S1 Ep23: All Debt, No Degree
After leaving school with no degree and six figures of student debt, Alisha had a long road to her current career as a designer. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-23-all-debt-no-degree/) Transcript  (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-23-all-debt-no-degree/#transcript)
32m Jul 29, 2021
32m
S1 Ep22: The American Dream
This week’s guest, writer Ashley Strahm, shares her family’s experience paying for college with Parent PLUS Loans. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-22-the-american-dream/)
34m Jul 15, 2021
34m
S1 Ep21: Public Service Loan Forgiveness
This week’s guest, Kate Spaulding, received complete forgiveness of her federal student loans through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-20-public-service-loan-forgiveness/)
35m Jul 01, 2021
35m
S1 Ep20: Student Loan Employee Benefits
This week’s guest, Bridget Haile, talks about her work at Summer, which partners with large employers, financial institutions, and unions to help their populations navigate and reduce student loan debt. Read more (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-20-student-loan-employee-benefits/)
36m Jun 17, 2021
36m
S1 Ep19: Student Debt Brand
This week’s guest, Shanna Bennett, talks about her own experience with student debt as the child of an immigrant and the idea inspired by Paul Newman’s pasta sauce. Read more (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-19-student-debt-brand/)
41m Jun 03, 2021
41m
S1 Ep18: The Debtors' Union
This week’s guest, NYU professor Andrew Ross, talks about the history of the student debt crisis and the current movement of the Debt Collective to organize and advocate for debt abolition. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-18-the-debtors-union/)
51m May 20, 2021
51m
S1 Ep17: Scam Education
This week’s guest, comedian Drew Beekler, talks about his own comedy of errors with student loan debt and scam education. Read more (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-17-scam-education/)
41m May 06, 2021
41m
S1 Ep16: The Fight for Borrower’s Defense
This week’s guest, law enforcement professional Alicia Davis, talks about her multi-year journey to discharge her fraudulent for-profit student loans through the Borrower’s Defense to repayment. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/the-fight-for-borrowers-defense/)
47m Apr 22, 2021
47m
S1 Ep15: Successful PSLF
Our guest this week, government lawyer and poet Hil Kaman, talks about his journey to getting cancelation through the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Read more (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/successful-pslf/)
48m Apr 08, 2021
48m
S1: Mini-Episode with Umme Hoque
In this week’s mini-episode, returning guest Umme Hoque, Organizing Director of The Debt Collective, talks about the recent student debt cancellation week of action. Umme discusses how the movement to cancel student debt is building pressure on President Biden to take action, and it's working. She also gives us an update on the memo Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is writing to President ...
8m Apr 06, 2021
8m
S1 Ep14: Power in Collective Action
Umme Hoque, Organizing Director of The Debt Collective, talks to Nikki about how, after taking on student debt she became disillusioned with the American Dream. She now works for complete student debt cancelation as well as a radical overhaul of the American education system. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-14-power-in-collective-action/)
25m Mar 25, 2021
25m
S1 Ep13: #CancelStudentDebt
This week’s guest, Melissa Byrne, is back on the podcast  to tell us more about her advocacy work towards student debt cancellation, and the latest news from Washington on the federal student loan and crisis. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/cancelstudentdebt/)
31m Mar 11, 2021
31m
S1 Ep12: The Prosp(A)rity Project
After struggling with her own student loan debt, this week’s guest, Briana B. Franklin, started a nonprofit called The Prosp(A)rity Project that wants to alleviate student loan debt for all black women. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-12-the-prosparity-project/)
30m Feb 25, 2021
30m
S1 Ep11: Shame[Less] Student Debt
In this episode of Matter of Life and Debt, our guest, EDI Professional Emma Klauber explains why she started her publication shame[less] to destigmatize student loan debt. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-11-shameless-student-debt/)
41m Feb 11, 2021
41m
S1: Mini Episode with Melissa Byrne
This week’s podcast guest Melissa Byrne is a senior political and community organizer focusing on canceling student debt and making education free for all. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/mini-episode-with-melissa-byrne/)
17m Feb 09, 2021
17m
S1 Ep10: Canceling Student Loan Debt
This week’s guest, Winter, an organizer for the Debt Collective, talks about the six-figures of student debt and the emotional breakdown that led him eventually to a life devoted to student debt activism. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/canceling-student-loan-debt/)
53m Feb 04, 2021
53m
S1 Ep9: The Student Debt Strike
In this episode of Matter of Life and Debt, student loan activist Eli Campbell tells Nikki what he has learned about SLABS, why he is a good candidate for debt striking and what he thinks is the future of student loans in the United States. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-9-the-student-debt-strike/)
31m Jan 21, 2021
31m
S1 Ep8: Pawns in the Loan Market
After 15 years of making the minimum payments on her student loans, Ro Fainstein now finds herself with the same amount of debt as she started with: $40,000. In protest she has stopped paying her loans. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-8-pawns-in-the-loan-market/)
34m Jan 07, 2021
34m
S1 Ep7: Going Green to Get Out of the Red
After life threw them a series of curveballs, this week’s guest got a job that allowed them to pay off their student debt from undergrad, as well as graduate school in cash. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-7-going-green-to-get-out-of-the-red)
26m Dec 24, 2020
26m
S1 Ep6: Passion and A Paycheck
This week on the podcast we talk to Tameka Vasquez, strategist, educator and futurist. She explains how the financial concerns around paying off her loans dictated the course of her career from Journalism to Business major. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-6-passion-and-a-paycheck/)
37m Dec 10, 2020
37m
S1 Ep5: A Reality of No Student Debt
On this week’s episode, artist Forrest Gerke (https://www.forrestgerke.com/) tells host Nikki Nolan how he was able to leave school without any debt. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-5-a-reality-of-no-student-debt)
30m Nov 26, 2020
30m
S1 Ep4: Law School and Loan Forgiveness
After taking out six figures in loans to attend law school, an anonymous government lawyer explains that her more than a quarter of a million dollars in loans may not qualify for public service forgiveness, she is hoping it will. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-4-law-school-and-loan-forgiveness/)
39m Nov 12, 2020
39m
S1 Ep3: Don’t Let Debt Define You
After accumulating six figures worth of student loan debt from art school, artist and writer Sarah Thibault shares the financial fall out that still affects her decades later, as well as how she stays optimistic despite it. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-3-dont-let-debt-define-you/)
35m Oct 29, 2020
35m
S1 Ep2: Was College Worth It?
Chef Ronny Miranda shares his experiences leaving college with more student debt than he bargained for, participating in two class-action lawsuits against Sallie Mae, and his skepticism about higher education in the United States. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-2-was-college-worth-it/)
22m Oct 29, 2020
22m
S1 Ep1: A Matter of Life and Debt
In the first episode of A Matter of Life and Debt, host Nikki Nolan shares her personal journey with her student loans, which ended in her paying off a total of $162,144 over the course of 29 months, ending in August 2020. Read More (https://matteroflifeanddebt.com/episode-1/)
22m Oct 29, 2020
22m
S1: Trailer - Matter of Life and Debt
Are you one of the 44+ million people in the United States with student loan debt? Or are you a high schooler, or someone thinking about going back to school but will have to take out a loan to do so? Then Matter of Life and Debt is for you. Each week I will talk to different people about student debt, hear their stories, and learn from their experiences.  Find it wherever you listen to podcast...
2m Oct 15, 2020
2m