The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Opinion

June 13, 2012

Your View: Is Congress responsible?

JOPLIN, Mo. — In regard to the Globe’s story, “Student loan interest set to double unless Congress takes steps” (June 10), in a single student loan there is a two-party contract that says: “The borrower will pay a fixed interest to the lender.”

So how then can that fixed interest double? Or are we talking about new loans in the future? If so, the new loans could have different terms.

If the new borrower cannot pay what the lender seeks, he or she should not sign the contract.

He or she should shop around, hit Mom and Dad or kith and kin up for some help, get a job, earn a scholarship or go to a less expensive school. The student/parent team should foresee the importance of saving for college.

To say that a bomb will go off if Congress doesn’t “take steps” is to say the Congress is responsible for the students’ freely assumed responsibilities of their loan contracts.

An extremely radical idea might be to eliminate the expensive Department of Education, prorating the savings among the states that typically finance higher education, possibly with scholarship endowments.

John Cragin

Joplin

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