Readers React: Why bankrupt borrowers should not be allowed to discharge student loan debt

To the editor: I agree that the costs of college have risen with the availability of free money via loans and that students are naive about the effects of borrowing so much. However, the fallacy in Allan Collinge’s argument is that “lenders have no reason to seriously evaluate a prospective borrower’s ability to repay a loan.” (“A right to debt relief from crushing student loans,” Opinion, March 10)

Very few college students have a credit history; therefore, lenders are unable to evaluate a borrower’s ability to pay. The tradeoff for giving loans to all without traditional underwriting criteria is the non-dischargeability of a student loan. Moreover, in true cases of undue hardship, and in limited circumstances, student loans are dischargeable, an important fact missing from this one-sided argument.

I formerly represented student loan agencies, defending against bankruptcy cases filed by former students seeking to discharge their loans. Significant abuse exists.

Janis Abrams, Sherman Oaks

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To the editor: Please do not forget the student’s poor parents.

Our lovely daughter’s financial aid package to a private college that was one of the few offering a program in her chosen career path consisted of about half loans. Our federal PLUS loans for parents are much larger than her debts; they are like a second mortgage.

I am sure there are many other parents who are spending their retirement savings on their children’s futures. We deserve some relief too.

One reason why college attendance skyrocketed in the first place is the GI Bill. It proved that money put into education was a profitable investment. What we have now, a system that relies on loans, is a case of “penny wise, dollar stupid.”

Murry I. Rozansky, Chatsworth

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