Editorial
Trend in student loans
has disturbing impact
The Congressional Joint Economic Committee’s recent
finding that more university students now are having to bor
row money for their education rather than relying on federal
grants and scholarships points to disturbing trends.
Government loans have tripled in the last 10 years while
grants have declined, so that a third to a half of all
undergraduates are leaving school in debt.
In the last 10 years the cost of a college education has
continued to rise, yet real income has remained more or less
constant. This means that paying for college is now taking a
bigger bite out of family incomes.
While upper- and, to an extent, middle-class families
will be able to afford the increasing cost of education and re
main eligible for loans, lower class families, because of
fewer government grants, will be the hardest hit, creating
further economic discrimination in education.
The study further states that women and minorities will
also be hard hit because they are less willing to incure debt
and are less able, at least demographically. to pay back
loans.
Priorities are at the heart of the issue. The federal
government should not be making it harder for anyone to get
a college education. Although budget constraints most often
are voiced as the reason for cutting grant and scholarship
funds, we believe education should not be compromised —
even if it means putting education on a higher priority than
defense.
By reducing the availability of grants and encouraging
the use of loans for education, the government has shifted
the onus of the federal debt from the nation to the in
dividual. and such a move is dangerous for the well-being of
the country.
New homeless aid package
is hopefully just a start
Late last week, Speaker of the House Jim Wright an
nounced that Congress was going to rush through a $500
million aid program to help the nation’s homeless. The
money will be used to build shelters and provide food this
winter.
The recent aid program follows a $0.5 million renova
tion funding for re-building a Washington D.C. shelter for
the homeless, approved by Congress in July.
Although meritorious, the new aid package merely
mends a symptom and does not address the causes of
homelessness in America.
The character of the homeless has been changing. The
stereotypical “down-and-outers” are still showing up at
shelters around the nation, but unlike in the past, entire
families are adding to the growing number of this nation’s
homeless population. Shelters for the homeless are also see
ing an increase in the number of displaced workers.
What is needed is more emphasis on re-training pro
grams for an increasingly complex job market. Education in
new job skills would offer long-run economic growth, as
well as provide meaningful employment for the jobless and
homeless of America.
The bare minimum our society should be able to offer its
citizenry is a warm place to sleep at night and a daily meal.
But people need more than that; they need dignity - dignity
that comes from being a working member of society.
Background
I would refer readers to the ar
ticle printed In the Dec. 4
Register-Guard on Karen Talbot
and the World Peace Council.
A few facts are in order: the
World Peace Council was ex
pelled from France in 1951 and
later from Austria in 1957.
Presently head-quartered in
Helsinki, this acknowledged
Soviet front maintains its
leverage there due to the
economic dependence of
Finland on the Soviet Union.
In 1975 the WPC gave its
highest award, the Frederic
Joliot Curie Cold Medal for
Peace, to Yassar Arafat. Another
award was given by the WPC
that same year to Lolita Lebrun,
a Puerto Rican terrorist who
shot up the U S. House of
Representatives Visitors'
Gallery during the Truman ad
ministration. Another year their
peace medal was awarded to
Leonid Brezhnev.
In 1979 WPC President
Romash Chandra commented at
a meeting of the WPC offspring,
the United States Peace Coun
cil, "People ask me, ‘You are a
peace movement. Why do you
support armed struggles in
Nicaragua. Palestine. Vietnam?’
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And I reply, ‘The armed strug
gle in these countries is the
peace movement. .. . ’ ’*
Why haven't WPG sponsors
such as Clergy and Laity Con
cerned, the Sanctuary Ministry.
Beyond War and the others de
nounced this?
Perhaps Talbot and her sup
porters would concur with
Chandra, when he said, “(The
WPC Cold Award) is a symbolic
way to express their affection
for Comrade Brezhnev, for the
glorious Communist Party of
the Soviet Union and for the en
tire Soviet people their
gratitude for the brilliant leader
ship in the work for the im
plementation of the Soviet
Peace Programme and for carry
ing out of Soviet initiatives on
all the urgent international
issues of the day.”
Jim Statler
Eugene
Once-skeptical
Contrary to Ron Rousseve
(ODE, Jan. 8), 1 do not believe
that the “serious intellectual
scrutiny" of religious beliefs
“invariably” forces a person to
choose between reason and
religion. Rousseve seems to
believe that reason and faith are
mutually exclusive, but this
denies the legacy bequeathed to
us by some of the foremost
thinkers in Western
civilization.
Surely Rousseve does not
believe that his own reasoning
abilities outstrip those of men
like St. Thomas Aquinas, Rene
Descartes or Albert Einstein, all
of whom professed a faith in
God, and all of whom were men
of reason and science.
Reason and faith may be
mutually exclusive in Rousseve
and others' own minds, but
they are not mutually exclusive
by nature.
The theory of evolution, for
example, is accepted on faith by
most scientists despite the fact
that it can never be proven.
To me the idea that Jesus is
the promised Messiah is a fact
because 1 have had experiences
in my life that have convinced
my once-skeptical self of the
reality of religious truths.
The Holy Spirit has born
witness to me of these things.
There is a way to know about
God and Jesus that may not be
scientific, but nevertheless is
true: ask Him. He has promised
to answer.
It has been my experience
that most non-religious people
accept secular answers to ques
tions about religion without
ever asking God about those
same religious questions.
He has answered me, and He
will answer anyone who really
wants to know.
Anton Tolman
GTF, psychology
Loans
I am a junior at the University in
my fourth year. Last year I took
a year off to have a baby; he is
now 16 and a half months old.
The years before 1 got pregnant 1
worked 20 to 30 hours a week to
help finance my education.
This year 1 am working as
many hours as I can (6 to 10
hours) each week. Both my hus
band and I took out loans again
this year, but the financial aid
was cut so much that we will
probably have to drop out of
school long before we graduate.
A horrible thought has come
to us: How can we pay back
about $12,000 in loans when we
cannot even finish our educa
tions due to the cutbacks in
financial aid?
This reminds me of an old
saying, "penny-wise, pound
foolish.” The country is saving
a little by cutting financial aid,
but many students will have to
drop out of school as a result.
How can the United States
compete with Japan and West
Germany when students can no
longer afford to go to school?
Something must be done im
mediately to replenish the stu
dent aid budget. 1 urge everyone
to write to their representatives
in Congress, now, to insist upon
changes.
Erica Freeman Shamioo
Junior