To the editor: There is a serious problem in this country when people connect a college education with a job. (“College costs are beyond absurd. Here is a way to control them,” Opinion, April 30)
I grew up with my parents and a disabled older brother in a one-bedroom apartment. There was never a question about whether I would go to college to get an education, not a job.
I went to Brooklyn College in the early 1960s, a highly regarded college in New York City that I got to by public transportation. Many well-known people graduated from there. Tuition was approximately $50 per semester.
That would be $530 per semester today, adjusted for inflation. Current tuition at the school is nearly $3,500 per semester for New York State residents.
The problem with higher education today is the enormous cost of administration. Reduce overhead and solve the problem.
Adelman Herb, Del Mar
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To the editor: The solution is not to somehow charge lower tuition for lower-paying majors, as columnist LZ Granderson suggests. It is about returning to state support for higher education for all.
That was the case when I went to school and college costs were low enough that I could pay for them with a part-time job. I earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering without student debt or help from my parents.
In the end, the feds decided that an endless amount of tuition money could be offered as student loans. States reduced their support for higher education, universities raised tuition, and students took out loans.
It will be difficult to return to the old model. The government's offer of endless loans changed everything.
Now the president wants to forgive many of those loans. That won't solve anything. Some critics warned what an endless supply of student loans would do, and they were right.
The federal government should stop student loans and encourage states to support their universities and reduce tuition for all students, regardless of major.
Douglas M. Chapman, Santa Ana
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To the editor: Did Granderson just give away the game?
Basically, he is promoting a significant discount on races that are easier to politicize. This seems to fit the old right-wing argument that universities are mere incubators of Marxist and woke ideology.
Eduardo Delgado, Moorpark
