Letters to the Editor

Many consider loans not a good way to go

According to a Los Angeles Times article published Jan. 31, many Latino students stay away from student loans, preferring to finance their education with money they have already earned.

Unfortunately, not all students view college affordability the same way. This idea of loan aversion, while prevalent within the Latino student community, also affects other students of color.

The majority of this aversion has to do with cultural views of money, socioeconomic status and immigrant status.

If adequate and accurate financial aid information was shared with Latino families, then perhaps they would be more informed about financing their education through loans.

However, as it stands, not only is this group misinformed, but its decisions are largely framed by its cultural and social capital.

Therefore, the statement made by the Daily Bruin editorial board (“If you don’t like loans, don’t expect a handout,” Feb. 2) that “student loans are generally accepted as a way to get a good education” completely fails to consider the sociocultural factors that impact the financial aid process that many students of color experience.

Let me also say that federal financial aid was initially established in 1965 to assist low-income students in funding their college education through grants and not loans.

Hence, stating that loans are the old-fashioned way to finance college is inaccurate, since federal aid priorities have indiscriminately shifted from grant-based to loan-based financial assistance. Not only is loan-based aid a fairly new idea, it also goes against the initial purpose of federal aid, which is to facilitate access to college for students who would otherwise choose not to attend.

That said, I think it is unfair to state that everyone should simply take out loans.

I am in no way implying that special consideration needs to be given to students who refuse to take advantage of loans, nor am I advocating for financial handouts.

I am simply urging you to evaluate the direction to which these financial aid policies have gone. By juxtaposing these policy shifts with an understanding of how different people view money, we can save ourselves from unjustly criticizing certain populations for the college decisions they make.

Chiara Paz, graduate student, School of Education and Information Studies

New legislation will clean up corruption

According to an opinion piece published March 16 in UC Berkeley’s student newspaper, The Daily Californian, “Students and other voters across the country went to the polls in record numbers this past November demanding change in Washington D.C. We were fed up with business as usual in our nation’s capitol, especially with the way special interest money has corrupted and gummed up our political process. We spoke loudly and clearly that it was time for reform.”

On March 15, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., introduced a bill that would create a “Clean Elections” system that would, according to the editorial, “make our government more fair and less corrupt by giving an equal grant to congressional candidates who agree to accept no private contributions larger than $5.”

This reform will combat the influence of large political contributors who try to buy political influence.

This affects all political issues students may be concerned with. For example, it definitely hits home for many college students who constantly fear the rising cost of tuition.

Politicians backed by the student loan industry have helped keep interest rates artificially high, but Clean Elections candidates would be able to work on legislation that truly benefits students since they would have no financial connection to corporate donors.

Issues from providing aid in Darfur to protecting the environment to promoting gay and lesbian rights depend on whether or not this bill passes.

Still doubtful? “Clean Elections” has proved that it works. In Arizona; Connecticut; Maine; North Carolina; Portland, Oregon; and Albuquerque, New Mexico ““ areas in which Clean Elections have been voted in ““ the system has brought “more voter choice, more diverse candidates, grassroots campaigns and citizen-access to their representatives,” according to The Daily Californian. Clean Elections creates a more responsive democracy for all of us.

You can help make this innovative system a reality. Together we can take back our democracy from big funding sources and powerful special interests.

James Liu, president, Democracy Matters, second-year, ecology, behavior and evolution

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