LETTERS

Re “Defaults rise, but owners stay put,” April 23

Although I have no doubt that the plight of some homeowners was the result of circumstances beyond their control, the story of the Neagles strains credulity.

The Times writes that they “were close to paying off their home loan in the early 1990s when they decided to refinance and take out some equity to help pay for their son to study aerospace engineering at Cal Poly Pomona. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1999, but the Neagles ended up with about $600,000 in debt.”

Perhaps their son should have studied accounting instead: These numbers don’t add up. A four-year degree at Cal Poly Pomona today costs about $20,000 for tuition and books, or about $70,000 if room, board and incidentals are included. A bargain, surely, and probably even less expensive 10 years ago.

How the heck does that end up ballooning into $600,000 in debt? Somebody is cooking those books -- or was buying much more than a child’s college education with their refinancing proceeds.

Kerry Odell

Upland