Letters to the Editor: Don’t cancel student loan debt. Abolish interest instead

To the editor: I have a fair amount of student loan debt. I fully acknowledge that since I borrowed this money, I need to pay it back. (“The social justice case for canceling college debt,” Opinion, Dec. 20)

However, I think a fair compromise solution in lieu of canceling this debt would be to permanently eliminate the interest on student loans. Perhaps add an administrative fee on the front of the loan to recoup any costs.

It’s much, much less of a burden to pay back a loan when two-thirds of your initial payments are not going toward new interest.

Alex Nikmanesh, Covina

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To the editor: Forget debt forgiveness. Here’s a suggestion for helping all students pay their college debt: Reduce the interest rate for all college loans to no more than 3%.

Last time I checked my niece’s loans, she was paying 7.6%. When one can obtain a home loan for as low as 2.3%, it is unfair to lend money for education at higher rates.

That higher rates are charged to people just out of high school is criminal.

Margaret Alvarez, Manhattan Beach

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To the editor: I’m all for student loan forgiveness for the reasons that UCLA law professor Jonathan D. Glater states in his op-ed article.

But one issue I’ve never seen addressed is the fairness to parents of limited means who sacrificed and saved so we could pay our child’s tuition, allowing them to start their adult lives unencumbered by student debt.

With a child currently attending college, I have to admit to wondering whether I’m a fool to be paying more than $40,000 per year. Should I instead borrow more of this and gamble that the loans will be forgiven?

I’d certainly feel like the proverbial “sucker” if I shelled out $150,000 — sacrificing a comfortable retirement — only to later learn that most of this would have been forgiven if I had borrowed it instead.

Morey Epstein, Van Nuys

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To the editor: While Glater makes a case for canceling student loan debt, one should also ask why average tuition has increased at twice the rate of inflation.

Could it be that the availability of student loans has motivated schools to raise tuition, knowing that such easy access to financing would cover the increased costs, instead of looking at ways to hold costs down?

Jim Winterroth, Torrance