Debt forgiveness sends the wrong message
Re “Student debt waiting game,” May 13
Mine was not a wealthy family and we saved and struggled to send our children to college. Once in college, our children took out only small student loans.
They have since paid back their debt, and nowhere in the current loan forgiveness proposals do I see any mention of rewarding them for doing what any responsible citizen should do: pay back what you borrow. All that is being taught to the current crop of students is irresponsibility.
Our children knew that they needed to go to affordable colleges and what was borrowed would need to be paid back.
I can see forgiving some debt and rewarding students who sign up for Teach for America or a rural medical program, but to just forgive some debt with no strings attached? No.
I don’t know what the answer is, but making taxpayers swallow their debt is not it.
KATHLEEN WALKER Los Osos
Cap student loan interest at 0%, permanently. Do it for all existing and future student loans.
All student loans should be same-as-cash loans, with 0% interest until the principal is paid.
There is no reason why anybody should profit off a person working to educate themselves so they can have a better life. Student loan interest has created an insidious environment where borrowers end up in a lifetime of debt, often paying several times more than they borrowed to pay tuition.
This is sick. This is greedy. It is time to stop it. Federal tax dollars are enough to pay for the service of providing a student loan.
BENNETT WILLIAMS Temecula
Simply forgiving student loan debt without addressing the high cost of a university education enables universities to continue increasing tuition at rates well above that of inflation.
If we are going to forgive student loan debt, let us at least tie it to a requirement that educational institutions address their bloated cost structures and administrative overhead.
If we fail to require universities to address the cost increases that are driving the rise in student loans, then debt forgiveness will simply enable schools that fail to rein in their costs. And we will be back here again in the future, with calls to forgive billions more in debt.
GORDON TOMASKE San Gabriel