Act destroys dreams
I was very disappointed in the coverage of the Dream Act and the
recent rally that took place on the UCLA campus. “Dream Act
rally held” (News, June 3) was clearly one-sided, and the two
small paragraphs dedicated to describing the opposition to this
legislation failed to articulate the objections raised by those who
oppose this bill.
While it is true that for every illegal immigrant accepted into
state schools, a legal resident would have to be turned away, there
is a deeper, fundamental objection held by the
opposition. This bill provides an in-road to residency and
citizenship for those who have broken the law in coming or
remaining in the United States.
The opposition does not deny the humanity of these individuals,
but recognizes that these people have cut in line in front of
thousands of people who are waiting to enter this country through
proper and legal means. These thousands of people who are obeying
the law and waiting to immigrate to the United States are also
human beings who have dreams and aspirations.
Kevin Williams Graduate student, microbiology,
immunology and molecular genetics
Loan plan burdensome
In the current political climate, politicians think they can
place the burden of their budgetary problems on the backs of
students.
In “Lawmakers propose interesting loan plan,” (News,
June 3) Richard Clough should have emphasized that the current plan
to change student loan rates from fixed to variable could cost
students thousands of dollars in interest payments over the life of
their loan. This is not an “interesting loan plan”
““ it is a proposal that could cost students even more at a
time when higher education is getting more expensive.
Currently, the law says after you graduate you can consolidate
your loans at the current market rate. Since rates are expected to
rise in the near future, it is a better deal for graduating
students to consolidate these loans at the fixed current rate than
to pay a variable rate that will likely increase in the upcoming
years. For a student like myself who is already $30,000 in debt,
that difference will save me thousands of dollars in interest
payments.
Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Committee on
Education and the Workforce, and Rep. Howard “Buck”
McKeon, R-Calif. are simply playing into the hands of big banks who
are backing this plan. Essentially the banks support this proposal
because they have less of an opportunity to lose money with
variable interest rate loans.
The wallets of thousands of students are not the place to find
extra money in a budgetary crisis.
Mark Thornton Third-year history student