Lystra Small-Clouden, a 63-year-old mother of four from Horsham, is among the growing number of people who are advocating for President Joe Biden to use his executive power to cancel student debt entirely, writes Anna Orso for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Small-Clouden, who is Black and has joined the Debt Collective, a national debtors’ union, started an online Ph.D. program in 2010 after reading in an advertisement she would be able to finish it in three years.

However, the program took five years, and by the time she graduated she was $180,000 in debt. The debt has since doubled and she has now depleted her savings.

Her story is familiar to many Black and Latinx borrowers, who are hit by the student debt crisis the hardest.

While Biden has said he wants Congress to pass legislation that would immediately forgive $10,000 in federal student loan debt for every borrower, a group of more than 200 organizations said it is not enough and firmer action is required.

They urge for the cancelation of the entire debt as it is “weighing heaviest on Black and Latinx communities, as well as women.”

Read more about the student debt crisis at The Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.