AMHERST — Responsible for $135,000 in student debt, Amherst resident Ian Rhodewalt observes that during the yearslong federal pause in making loan repayments during the pandemic, he and his family were able to get a vehicle, to replace a broken-down car, and to upgrade aging kitchen appliances.

Rhodewalt, who earned a master’s degree in labor studies at the University of Massachusetts and is now a field organizer for the Western Massachusetts Area Labor Federation, said his experience shows how initiatives to cancel what college students owe could impact the lives of those who often face a choice between paying for housing, groceries and other necessities, and the bills for their education.

“Student debt burdens workers of all kinds, from nurses to teachers, custodians to truck drivers, personal care attendants to child care workers, graduate employees to farmworkers, and many more,” Rhodewalt says. “On May Day, International Workers Day, as we celebrate workers, we demand that all student debt be canceled entirely.”

The regional labor federation, made up of more than 60 public and private sector unions and representing 50,000 unionized workers in the state’s four westernmost counties, along with the national Debt Collective and the Higher Ed for All coalition, held a brief rally at the Haigis Mall at UMass on Wednesday afternoon. There, a dozen or so people held signs reading “Cancel All Student Debt” and “Cancel Student Debt Now” and offered stories about the challenges they face and why free public higher education should be an entitlement.

Debt Collective member-organizer Jackie Daniels said student debt is forcing people to make hard choices related to buying a home or even starting a family. “We know so many students are burdened with this debt,” Daniels said.

Daniels cited her own financial decisions, which are driven by what she owes. “Without this debt, I’d have the freedom to think long term and make decisions based on possibility instead of necessity,” Daniels said.

The rally comes a few weeks after the UMass board of trustees approved an increase to tuition and fees — and following similar appeals for debt cancellation made in front of the local offices of both U.S. Reps Jim McGovern and Richard Neal.

In supporting the state’s Fair Share Amendment — the so-called millionaires’ tax, which was passed in 2022 and was supposed to help fund education and transportation initiatives — Rhodewalt said the idea was to make higher education more accessible, while steps like cost hikes at UMass make it less affordable instead.

Among those who came out to speak at the plaza were Andrew Gorry, who co-chairs the Professional Staff Union, who noted that corporations are profiting off students who leave school in debt.

“We need to ask why we haven’t laid out a vision for a tuition-free university,” Gorry said.

Rhodewalt said that nationally, student debt has gone down from $1.9 trillion to $1.6 trillion between 2022 and 2023, but that is still too much — and that 44 million Americans are struggling with this burden and a choice between paying that or buying groceries and making rent payments. Public higher education graduates in Massachusetts last year alone owe $400 million, he said.

The rally marked the beginning of several actions on campus Wednesday, where the UMass People’s Assembly was set up on the lawn between the Campus Pond and the WE.B. DuBois Library, the same site where a pro-Palestinian encampment was removed early Tuesday. Rhodewalt said the idea is to connect with those activists, including UMass Dissenters, Students for Justice in Palestine and Faculty for Justice in Palestine.

While their issues may not be similar, they are related, he said, pointing to federal funding going to Israel to support its war on Hamas in Gaza, rather than supporting college students.

The rally calling for debt cancellation also came in advance of a national day of action taking place in Washington, D.C. coming up on May 22. That “Fund Education, Not Genocide” demonstration is organized by the Debt Collective, with Daniels noting that a bus will head down from UMass with at least 50 people from this area.

Aaron Liu, a graduate student at UMass, said another issue has been UMass enrolling more students than it can house, and opting to not construct new dorms.

“It’s not a tenable or sustainable situation,” Liu said.

With rents over $1,000 a month, and with a studio apartment going for $1,900 a month at the new Fieldstone building on Massachusetts Avenue, graduate students are rent burdened, he said.

The Graduate Employee Organization has proposed that UMass provide $400 per month in rental assistance.

“We’re trying to get UMass to give us a housing stipend,” Liu said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.