WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES NOVEMBER 17, 2016 13 LETTERS AND COMMENTS THE VOTERS GET THE PRESIDENT THEY DESERVE For some the choice was easy. For others it was simple. Congratulations to Trump supporters. You got what you wanted: a president without an email “scandal.” You know what else he comes without? Level headedness, intelligence, comprehension of complex global issues, belief in global warming, the list goes on and on. I just hope he goes back to being the Democrat he was before he posed as a Republican to fool ignorant voters. Robert LaRosa, Whitestone IF TRUMP WANTS UNITY, HE SHOULD REACH OUT TO DEMS President-elect Donald Trump can begin the process of unifying our divided nation by inviting several distinguished Democrats with experience in government and business to join his new administration. By reaching out to centrist Democrats, he will demonstrate a willingness to listen to diff erent points of view as he formulates his policies. Theodore J. Sheskin, Flushing THE COUNTRY IS REALLY STRONGER TOGETHER AFTER ALL Now that the presidential election is over, and Donald Trump is going to be sworn in as our 45th president in January 2017, it is time for all of the discord and disunity that has rocked our nation for so long to begin to be healed. We must unite and stand behind our new president, and support him, regardless of what his past may have been. There is not one person in politics in this nation who doesn’t have a least one skeleton in their closet. So, it is time for all of the sniping, bickering and street protests to stop, and we as a nation and people must work together to heal the divisions: racial, economic and political. We must stand behind our next president and give him a chance to do his job, so that our nation will once again be the strongest in the world. John Amato, Fresh Meadows MORE L TRAINS WON’T BENEFIT AS MUCH AS PREDICTED Regarding increased L train service during next year’s M train shutdown: Thanks to rapid gentrifi cation in the Northside of Williamsburg and now in Bushwick, more and more newer residents are coming to these neighborhoods, especially along the L train. It does make sense when the MTA could add more trains per week because these newer residents are fl exible to go across NYC, anytime, anywhere, and not just to go to the 9 to 5 job anymore. It’s a “double-edged” sword and a “Catch-22:” more service to relieve overcrowding, but more and more people are living along the L train in the future. QNS user Pedro Valdez Rivera Jr. This photo, more than a century old, shows some Ridgewood children enjoying books at the Ridgewood station of the Queens Borough Public Library in 1911. The station was located at the corner of Seneca and Greene avenues and was eventually replaced by the Ridgewood library, which opened in 1929 at 2012 Madison St. off Forest Avenue. Send us your historic photos of Queens by email to editorial@qns. com or mail printed photos to A Look Back, c/o The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you upon request. A LOOK BACK OP-ED Revealing the truth about student loan debt BY ROBERT A. SCOTT The headlines are intended to convey a message: college student debt is alarming and out of control. Such articles report on the $1.3 trillion in total college student debt, compare it to consumer debt, and include brief profiles of college seniors and recent graduates protesting about debt of $100,000 and more. I am not here to dismiss student debt. It is a feature of American higher education that causes me anguish. Federal student loans were started under the National Defense Education Act in 1958 and the program became the Guaranteed Student Loan Program in 1965. The latest version, Direct Lending, was introduced in 1992 and expanded under in 1993. In 2007, following reductions in the use of Direct Lending and cutbacks to the federal program in order to increase funding for the Pell Grant program, banks and other non-bank lenders began offering variable rate student loans with risk pricing of up to 16 percent and more. It was a combination of these private loans, the fact that student debt may not be canceled through bankruptcy, the dramatic increase in students attending private for-profit colleges by using federal and private loans, the desire for graduate study in order to gain better employment, and the fact that the federal government did not reduce its interest rates on guaranteed loans, leaving them up to 50 percent higher than many mortgage rates, that caused the surge in total student debt. This is voluntary debt. There is no reason for anyone to graduate from an undergraduate program with $100,000 or more in debt. Those who incur such debt do so voluntarily, usually in order to pay the tuition and associated costs necessary to attend what they consider to be a more prestigious college than one that is more affordable. Public college tuition is often 20 percent or less than private college tuition, and nearly 50 percent of students in four-year colleges started at two-year community colleges. In fact, only 0.2 percent of student borrowers have $100,000 or more in debt. Of these, 90 percent are in or already graduated from a graduate school or an advanced professional school like law and medicine. Some 40 percent of all student debt is for these students. Another source of anguish is found in student loan default rates. For example, in a recent year, the average student loan default rate for public colleges and universities was 13 percent and for private nonprofit colleges and universities it was 8.2 percent. At private for-profit colleges, it was 21.8 percent. Still another source of anguish is the dismal record on graduation rates. Of 100 high school graduates, about 70 will graduate from high school; 49 will enter college; and 25 of these 49 will graduate with a four-year baccalaureate degree in six years. Colleges should be held accountable for graduation rates, as those who borrow to pay tuition and do not graduate start at a severe disadvantage compared to others. Robert A. Scott is president emeritus and university professor emeritus for Adelphi University in Garden City, NY.
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