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Good afternoon my name is Washieka Torres and I am the Treasurer for the CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities.
I'm a proud officer of CCSD representing more than 9,000 CUNY students with disabilities.
I'm here today to discuss how doubling student loans will affect students with disabilities in higher education.
Students with disabilities face an unforgiving economy. Not only due to the economic downturn but because unemployment
for people with disabilities is four times the average unemployment rate of non-disabled individuals.
Varying disabilities often render us ineligible for many forms of financial aid. That coupled with various disability-specific scholarships regionally and nationally creates limited opportunities for our students.
The CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities in conjunction with the University has maintained steps actively by helping students with disabilities to register to vote.
As a population that is often forgotten about we can remind elected officials that we should not be a forgotten population. We can do that by casting our ballot.
We have worked to register students with disabilities all throughout the CUNY system, making them more engaged
and I hope that other universities can take a note out of that page and do the same.
On behalf of the CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities I want to thank CUNY, council member Rodriguez
and members of our city and state legislature, senior US Senator Chuck Schumer and President Obama for remembering that affordable interests rates and things like stafford loans are crucial for our education.
Initiatives like these help students with disabilities become tax contributors as opposed of tax consumers. Thank you.