Getting a degree and avoiding debt

Re “Most Latino students spurn college loans,” Jan. 31

Like Luis Fernandez, I put myself through my undergraduate years without loans. My parents didn’t take out second and third mortgages to pay my tuition. It took me longer to complete the work, but who did that hurt? I made the most of California’s junior college and state college systems, graduating with honors. I was the first college graduate on my father’s side of the family.

Working while I went to school did not hurt me academically. It provided me with a balanced view of what being an adult required. The Times article left me feeling as though the time I put into earning my education was wasted effort in the eyes of the very institution I was paying. It didn’t value my independent spirit. It felt pity for me. It didn’t respect my culture’s wariness of debt. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Those students who find their own ways through the maze of higher education without accruing debt deserve to be lauded. Anything less is an insult.

TRINA GAYNON

Woodland Hills

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I’d like to commend The Times for highlighting this important issue among Latino families. Many Latino parents aren’t aware of the financial aid resources that are available to them, and when students choose to work full time to pay for college, they actually lessen their chances of completing their degree.

However, there are two things we can do in California to fix this problem. First, we need to get the word out to students and parents beginning in middle school about financial aid and responsible use of loans; and second, we need to strengthen the delivery of financial aid in the community colleges, which is where most Latinos students begin their higher education.

MICHELE SIQUEIROS

Los Angeles

The writer is the associate director of the Campaign for College Opportunity.

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Students are being encouraged from every side to borrow huge amounts of money for college. They are told that their future incomes will offset the loans. The reality is that way too many students are graduating with tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. They find themselves married, maybe with children, and decades more of debt before they can even buy a home.

Many college grads will find worthwhile and rewarding employment that doesn’t pay such high salaries. It’s really not such a bad idea to take two more years or so to finish undergraduate work, while working part time instead of building up so much indebtedness.

As a society, we encourage indebtedness on all levels, and now we foist it on college students when other alternatives may suit them better.

SUSAN COSGROVE

San Juan Capistrano