WASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has made at least $174,000 annually for nearly eight years as a member of Congress, but like many of her “Squad” colleagues, she has yet to put a substantial dent in her student loan debt, according to House financial disclosures.
The Bronx and Queens Democrat has owed between $15,001 and $50,000 in federal student loan debt since her election to the House in 2018. That’s the same amount she owes now, according to her August disclosure, where lawmakers report ranges for debt and income.
The “Tax the Rich!” pol reported less than $81,000 in total assets.
Recently, Ocasio-Cortez has suggested that she’d been saving up for some time instead to freeze her eggs, a process that can cost between $10,000 and $20,000 per cycle.
“I got sworn into the House of Representatives when I was 29 years old,” she said in an Instagram video. “There’s this flip side where you have to then grow up in the public eye in a time that most people usually get to grow more privately.”
Ocasio-Cortez amassed the loans while attending Boston University as an international relations and economics major between August 2007 and May 2011 — and went on to tend bar in Manhattan before her successful run for Congress.
The “Squad” Democrat has consistently backed student debt cancellation. During former President Joe Biden’s term, she even pushed the 46th commander-in-chief to cancel as much as $50,000 in debt per student borrower. But she’s not the only US lawmaker who’s still holding student loans.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has held up to $50,000 over the past eight years in student debt — despite her net worth ballooning for a time to as much as $30 million due to her husband’s winery and venture capital businesses.
Not all her colleagues who entered the same freshman class of 2018 have failed to pay off their student debts.
Fellow “Squad” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) had up to $100,000 in law school loans that have been partially paid off in the same time period — but could still amount to as much as $50,000 too, per House disclosures.
Meanwhile, moderate Rep. Jared Golden (R-Maine) similarly held up to $100,000 in outstanding student debt but paid off at least half of it by his last House filing.
Early in his term, Biden expressly rejected writing off up to $50,000 in outstanding student loan debt, earning AOC’s ire.
“Entire generations of working class kids were encouraged to go into more debt under the guise of elitism. This is wrong,” she said in February 2021. “Nowhere does it say we must trade-off early childhood education for student loan forgiveness. We can have both.”
“We’ve got the Senate Majority Leader on board to forgive $50k. Biden’s holding back, but many of the arguments against it just don’t hold water on close inspection,” she added, criticizing lower proposed debt cancellations of $10,000 or so.
Ocasio-Cortez and other House Democrats also pushed for years for legislation to eliminate student debt, a popular 2020 campaign pledge that Biden tried to implement before his administration was overruled by the Supreme Court in June 2023.
That could have cost taxpayers as much as $430 billion over a decade-long period. Other plans Biden floated in the wake of its failure could have cost up to $475 billion.
“It is very important to note this SCOTUS ruling does NOT remove Biden’s ability to pursue student loan forgiveness,” Ocasio-Cortez posted after the 2023 decision. “The Biden Admin can use the HEA (Higher Ed Act) – our position from the start – to continue loan forgiveness before payments resume. They should do so ASAP.”
Ocasio-Cortez has also pointed out that the government won’t foot the bill for her voluntary decision to freeze her eggs either — but neither she nor other House Democrats have submitted bills yet seeking taxpayer-funded coverage for the procedures.
The potential 2028 presidential hopeful also rejected that her own political ambitions influenced her decision to freeze her eggs at age 36 — while refusing to answer The Post’s questions about whether she was still engaged to beau Riley Roberts.
The egg-harvesting process can be costly but allows women to store unfertilized eggs from their ovaries at sub-zero temperatures for years before they are ready to be implanted.
“This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” she told her followers. “And if people want to make assumptions about my decision, let them make those assumptions. I feel empowered to make this choice.”
Initial consult fees can range from the hundreds of dollars while the actual egg-freezing cycle cost thousands, in addition to up to $1,000 annually for storage.
A 2025 study published in Fertility and Sterility found women under the age of 40 who froze their eggs had increasing success rates in terms of pregnancy based on the number of eggs stored, with 20 or more eggs recording an 81.8% success rate.
Reps for Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to a request for comment.
