Readers React: For an education without major debt, check out community colleges

To the editor: After 13 years on the financial aid staff of a local community college, I can’t say I was surprised when I read about Jorge Villalba’s $158,000 student loan debt from earning a four-year degree from the for-profit ITT Technical Institute. (“Soaring student loan debt poses risk to nation’s future economic growth,” Sept. 5)

I’ve heard many similar stories from students transferring to a community college after attending schools like ITT to train for jobs such as medical assistant. They rack up thousands of dollars in student-loan debt, only to start over in community college.

Although these for-profit schools enroll only about 12% of students nationally, they account for nearly half the students who default on loans. Students considering attending one of these schools need to be far more skeptical of the advertising claims they make. They also need to understand the substantially higher cost of these schools compared with, say, a community college.

Villalba should take heart: Perhaps his experience will help others think carefully about student loans.

Albert Baroody, Pasadena

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