Letters to the Editor

Sex is expensive; abstinence is free

I was completely disappointed in Lara Loewenstein’s article “Exorbitant expense of fornication nothing new, but still blows” (April 12).

The article was rather depressing, not in terms of the content it dealt with, but rather the message delivered.

I’d just like to remind readers that abstinence is quite popular.

Trust me, you can go to college, then get married, then have sex.

Rather than complaining about the cost of birth control, Loewenstein should simply promote (and practice) abstinence.

Adam Blundell

Salt Lake City, Utah

Work visa program should not expand

As a UCLA alumnus, I was disappointed in the April 6 editorial (“Immigration cap is too arbitrary, detrimental”) calling for an expansion of the H-1B work visa program.

Several university studies and two congressionally commissioned reports have found that H-1B workers are often paid 20 to 30 percent less than U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

H-1B is also a factor in the short careers of tech graduates. Employers would rather hire a 25-year-old H-1B worker than a 40-year-old American.

An increase in the visa cap would be unwarranted. A BusinessWeek analysis showed that starting salaries for engineering graduates, adjusted for inflation, have been flat since 1999, belying the industry lobbyists’ claims that we don’t have enough engineers.

Norman Matloff

Professor of computer science

University of California, Davis

Loan scandal hurts too many students

The student loan scandal makes a mockery of the college students and their families who struggle to finance their higher education.

This blatant disregard for America’s next generation of business executives, educators and community leaders is more than unsettling.

Lenders and financial aid institutions are taking advantage of millions of students who can no longer depend on federal grant aid.

As a student who has taken out more than $14,000 in loans thus far, I am concerned with unfair loan practices. They have serious long-term effects on students, beginning as soon as they take them out all the way up to 20 or 30 years later, as borrowers continue to repay their loans.

Our hope is that Congress will move swiftly, as millions of students will graduate and decide their future plans this spring.

To restore students’ faith in higher education, the federal government needs to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.

This act, the single most-comprehensive piece of higher education legislation, can protect millions of students against gluttonous lenders and their lackeys.

Government oversight can also ensure that every eager, qualified student has access to higher education regardless of his or her economic status.

Let’s hope Congress takes note.

Gregory Cendana

Third-year, sociology and Asian American studies

USAC internal vice president

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