The American Spectator

br> — Gerald Brennan br> Ann Arbor, MI /p>

This is the same reason why vouchers in public school situations won’t work. Where every student is eligible for an amount of financial aid, that amount becomes the base amount charged as tuition. Thus, Pell Grants and state student loans, available to all students, aren’t used to defray the cost of higher education, they identify the minimum amounts to be charged as tuition.

p>Tenured faculty are paid very well to do things other than teach, things that enhance their own marketability. The colleges rationalize this by claiming that non-teaching research and academic conferences bring credit on the institution. At the same time, TA’s, “teaching assistants,” have to be employed to do the teaching that faculty is paid not to do. While this may work for a private school, public schools should serve the interests of the taxpayers, not academic adventurers. br> — unsigned /p>

I read John Dunlap’s piece with interest. I think he pays short shrift the role the federal student loan program pays in tuition increases. The degree I’m currently pursuing is the first I’ve ever financed (my parents paid my undergraduate tuition) and there’s something truly unreal about the entire process. I filled out all the forms online, and even though I am borrowing enough money to buy a car this year alone, I never had to sign anything. The forms were simple and shorter than the lease for my apartment.

I think this ease of application for loans of up to $20,000 per year makes students take on debt with unrealistic ideas about how much they are really borrowing and how long it will take to pay it back (You can take up to 30 years, or even more if you get suspensions for additional time spent in school for other degree programs.) Because the money doesn’t seem real, students don’t closely examine how much their education is costing them. With no price discrimination among consumers, there is absolutely no downward pressure on prices.

p>I find it unbelievable that they let 18-year-olds take on that much debt without so much as a credit check or co-signer. br> — unsigned /p>

My husband and I paid off his college loan early and after all of the penalties and interest were included, the total came to about 20% additional. The only thing we can figure out is the government gives what are suppose to be cheap loans to the banks who in turn charge whatever they feel like and let the federal government enforce it; therefore, putting the poor student in a bind whether they like it or not. Call it what you want; but I call it loan sharking.

p>Thanks for letting me express my opinion.