More from our inbox: I Had Polio. Get Vaccinated.Dr. Fauci, Thank You for Your ServicePresident Biden’s debt relief plan will almost certainly …
More from our inbox:
President Biden’s debt relief plan will almost certainly face legal challenges, making the timing of any relief uncertain. Credit…Al Drago for The New York Times
To the Editor:
Re “Biden to Forgive as Much as $20,000 in Student Loans” (front page, Aug. 25):
My daughter went to graduate school to follow her dreams and to acquire a skill that benefits society. She incurred substantial student debt, an amount so large that she would not be able to repay it unless she won the lottery.
While each year people urged her to accept all federal loans available, no one explained the onerous terms of these complicated programs, including that the interest rate was uncompetitively high (yes, the federal government made money off these loans), or that interest can be compounded, or that — unlike the debts of yacht owners and consumer rip-off companies — these debts are difficult to discharge in bankruptcy.
After graduation, many in her class became depressed over their debt payments, realizing they couldn’t financially move on with their lives. Thankfully, we were able to sell my parents’ home to pay off our daughter’s debt. And yes, even so, I do not begrudge the small assistance now offered to millions of our young people. As the experts have shown, we all will benefit from this effort.
Lois Woocher Karfunkel
Plymouth, Mass.
To the Editor:
Wait a minute! What about those of us who struggled financially in order to avoid college loans? Over the past eight years, we have declined the loans in our two daughters’ financial aid packages because we did not want them to be burdened with debt upon graduation. My husband and I cut corners and dug into our savings substantially in order to pull this off, and we were never able to afford to buy a house because of college tuition. We have no regrets and are very proud that we’ve made it possible for both of our daughters to graduate with their bachelor’s degrees debt-free.
It feels unjust that families like us, with incomes that fall well within the range of those receiving student loan debt relief, are not also receiving $10,000 per college student to offset the insane amount of money we have paid for college tuition.
Karen Littell
Santa Rosa, Calif.
To the Editor:
President Biden’s loan forgiveness package is a missed opportunity that addresses past inequities in part but does nothing to ensure access and degree attainment for low-income students starting college journeys. Forgiving $10,000 of debt for those making less than $125,000 is a blunt form of an income-based repayment program.
A better solution would be to create a forward-looking system that allows students to borrow for their education, knowing that their future payments will depend on whether their education pays off for them in the labor market. While the additional $10,000 in debt forgiveness for Pell Grant recipients will be a welcome relief for those from lower-income backgrounds, it’s also an admission that Pell Grant amounts are insufficient.
To be equitable, for current and future students income-based repayment programs must function smoothly and Pell Grants should be increased by a minimum of $2,500.
Catharine Hill
New York
The writer, a former president of Vassar College, is managing director of Ithaka S + R, which offers strategic advice for academic and cultural institutions.
To the Editor:
Those disparaging President Biden’s determination to forgive student debt as a waste of taxpayer money have a distorted view of the relationship between higher education and tax support.
Many state schools in the 1960s received 50 percent or more of their financial support from state government. No more! American voters apparently don’t want to support higher education, and Republican legislatures definitely do not.
So, tax money was historically always part of the financing of higher education, and this loan forgiveness is a minuscule proportion of what used to be generous taxpayer funding. Higher education is not and never was “free”; it always must be paid for. And ultimately it is either tuition or taxes that pay the bill.
William O. Beeman
San Jose, Calif.
The writer is a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Minnesota.
To the Editor:
Instead of giving borrowers a $10,000 reduction in their student loans, the government should offer a yearly reduction, perhaps $5,000, of student debt for every year worked for the public good. Some of the covered professions would include teachers, police officers, firefighters, health care providers working in public health clinics, full-time public defenders and full-time military.
Discounts on student debt in exchange for improving society would quiet some who resent another “woke” government giveaway.
Paul L. Newman
Merion Station, Pa.
To the Editor:
President Biden’s announcement of $10,000 in student loan forgiveness and deferred payments is welcome news. But it is not close to what is needed to provide true relief.
As a first-generation Latina college graduate, I continue to be hamstrung by large amounts of student debt. A recent survey showed that 57 percent of Latinos with student loan debt have reconsidered purchasing a home — a longtime dream of mine — because of concerns over repaying student loans.
If our leaders are serious about building a new normal, then they must relieve the student loan debt that overwhelmingly affects Black women and 72 percent of Latino students. In order to truly address the racial inequities that are keeping this country from achieving its full promise, President Biden cannot stop at relieving $10,000 of student debt for graduates like me.
Ariana A. Andrade
San Francisco
The writer is the senior communications manager for the Latino Community Foundation.
To the Editor:
Conspicuously missing from the public discussion of the cancellation of student loans is whether anything is going to be done to prevent a repetition in the future of high levels of student debt. Central to this issue is the effect that the existence of federal financial assistance (loans and grants) has on the level of college tuition.
It is not implausible to think that the existence of federal financial assistance creates an incentive for college administrators to continually increase tuition more than they might otherwise because they know that increases will be subsidized by those very same loans and grants.
Federal policymakers need to seriously consider making the eligibility of colleges to qualify for federal loans and grants to their students dependent on price controls on college tuition — either on the absolute amount or the permissible annual increases or both.
Alan Meisel
Pittsburgh
The writer is a retired law professor.
I Had Polio. Get Vaccinated.
To the Editor:
As a victim of childhood polio in the 1950s, I read with particularly keen interest “To Stop the Spread of Polio, Don’t Shame Religious Groups,” by Jeneen Interlandi (Opinion, Aug. 18).
I contracted polio after my father, a medical doctor, declined to give me the Salk vaccine in 1954 because it was part of a vaccine trial intended for second graders, and I was not yet in that cohort. My brother got the vaccine and, soon after, I came down with the disease, spending the next three months in the hospital and another year on crutches.
Like most Americans, I assumed that polio in our country was a thing of the past. After all, the last case of the illness in the United States was in 2013, and the last case that originated here was in 1979. Now a Rockland County, N.Y., man has come down with it, and the virus has been detected in New York City wastewater.
Vaccine hesitancy and vaccine resistance have prompted a potential public health crisis that could be averted if parents followed longstanding medical protocols and got their children immunized.
Even now, decades later, I have a problem standing for long periods and have to limit my walking while I used to be the fastest walker in any group I was part of. I wear a brace on one leg. And I have been experiencing the symptoms of post-polio syndrome.
It is important to do the safe and smart thing to immunize children and unvaccinated adults. Polio often can be a debilitating and life-threatening disease.
Steve Cohen
Memphis
The writer is a member of Congress, representing Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District.
Dr. Fauci, Thank You for Your Service
To the Editor:
Re “How History Will Remember the Fauci Era,” by Gregg Gonsalves (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, Aug. 23):
I knew that public health was my calling when I watched Anthony Fauci educate the American public on the dangers of Covid-19 during the first few months of 2020. Watching him provide clarity to all Americans during a time of grave worry made me realize that there was no greater purpose than serving others.
Dr. Fauci has led us through several public health crises that tested our nation’s resolve. The political response to Covid-19, which tested the balance between public health, science and politics, was detrimental to the country’s health, and few in government were willing to keep the virus separate from politics. But Dr. Fauci always remained unwavering in his commitment to telling Americans the truth about the virus.
At a time when people in government with honesty, resolve and loyalty to the American people are few and far between, Dr. Fauci embodies authentic, credible leadership that puts people ahead of politics. We were lucky to have Dr. Fauci.
Kiran Bhatia
Brookline, Mass.
