DeKALB – Lauren Underwood, representative of Illinois’ 14th congressional district, visited NIU for an event focused on financial literacy.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday around 15 people gathered in the Altgeld Hall Auditorium for a town hall discussion about different financial-related issues such as student loans and building wealth.
Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, co-founders and co-hosts of the Earn Your Leisure podcast network, joined Underwood to provide their thoughts on how to navigate finances.
Burritoville provided free tamales for attendees outside Altgeld Hall prior to the beginning of the event. Information about Underwood and how to stay connected with Underwood’s office was also available for attendees.
Underwood explained the purpose of the town hall event.
“This event is an outreach activity for the students at NIU. We know that for a lot of people, they have a lot of financial-related questions. Some folks are on their own for the first time and are trying to figure things out,” Underwood said. “Particularly, we know that, also, people want to build wealth. They want to have great careers, and we want to be able to bring in experts like Troy and Rashad, who we’ve worked with to make sure that people had a chance to hear from them.”
Attendees had the opportunity to do a meet-and-greet with Underwood from 11:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Prior to the town hall beginning, Underwood introduced herself to the attendees and discussed her political background.
“I was first elected in 2018 and as a registered nurse, I came to Congress focused on making sure that every family in our community can build a healthy, happy life here in Northern Illinois. In 2019, I was sworn into Congress,” Underwood said. “I became the youngest black woman ever elected. I’m now in my third term and am so eager to hear from you today about the issues that are affecting your lives as students and what you’re seeing throughout your communities.”
Millings talked about his and Bilal’s summer program they enacted for 14-year-olds to receive financial information. Millings said having financial information early in life could be beneficial for students prior to starting college.
“You might look at a junior college or a community college. It may be your first step before going to a four-year school. When you go to the four-year school, you’re not looking at specifically, this is what I want to major in,” Millings said. “You’re looking at ‘how much money I’m going to make if I choose this career. Do I have to go to grad school?’ So all these decisions we would give the kids at 14, which helps them now at 17-18, and make decisions like I said, which is going to be probably the biggest financial decision up until that point.”
Underwood also talked about how some people had some of their student debt forgiven.
“During the pandemic, the House Democrats did pass a bill to cancel $10,000 in student loans. But we have to support the Senate to get that across the finish line, which is really a shame. The Biden-Harris administration announced some plans for executive action to cancel $400 billion in debt, up to $20,000 per borrower,” Underwood said. “So you all probably heard about that. And then what happened? The ultra-conservative Supreme Court stepped in and said, ‘No, can’t do that,’ right? So the $10,000 became $20,000, Supreme Court came in and said, ‘No, nobody can get anything.’ So then the Biden-Harris administration had to step in and take other executive actions, which have resulted in about 5 million borrowers having $160 billion in student debt that’s been canceled.”
Attendees were able to ask questions about topics such as resources for college students to save money. Topics such as having a Roth IRA were brought up during the event, along with apps that people can use to track their finances.
For more information about Lauren Underwood, people can visit her website.
