Texas students raise $250,000 for school janitor, 80, forced out of retirement

After an 80-year-old janitor had to return to work after his rent was increased, Texas high school students raised more than $250,000 to help him retire.

The janitor, known to students as Mr James, returned to work in January after his rent shot up by $400 a month, according to KDFW. The students at Callisburg high school, about 80 miles (130km) north of Dallas, started their campaign last week and shared it on TikTok, hoping to raise $10,000. As of Friday afternoon, it had received nearly $270,000 from more than 8,000 donors.

“When I saw him in the hall, it broke my heart,” Greyson Thurman, a senior who started the campaign, told KTEN. “Nobody at that age should be working; they should be living the rest of their life, you know?”

James has declined to be interviewed by local outlets. “When we told him, he was kind of like, ‘Dang, that’s alright!’” Marti Yousko, another student who helped launch the campaign, told KDFW. The fundraiser will remain up until noon on Friday.

James’s story underscores the severe financial barriers older Americans face.

Millions of Americans are working into the years when they would typically retire – by 2030, the number of people aged 75 and older in the workforce is expected to grow by 96.5%, according to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics. People aged 75 and older are the only age group for whom the labor force participation rate is expected to rise over the next decade.

The average social security benefit in August of last year was $1,546.59.

“I have to work just to keep paying my regular bills,” Kathy Luebbe, a teacher in her late 60s, told the Guardian in 2021.

Many older Americans also must keep working to pay off debt – the fastest-growing demographic of student borrowers is Americans 62 and older, according to the New Yorker. About 20% of the 45 million people who have student debt are aged 50 and older, the magazine reported.

“I have been working full-time for the last eight years since retiring, and my wife also,” Ted Newman, a retired state government employee in Ohio, said in 2021. “Her yearly salary went almost completely to pay student debt, and I worked to have extras for the home.

“I can’t live long enough to pay the debt and plan to let it go to default because I can’t afford to pay it any more.”