Dear Congresswoman Robin Kelly – Part 3 (Final)
MY PROPOSALS BASED UPON “THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ME”.
My apologies for the playful title. However, I realize in advance that the ideas that follow are probably a bit far-fetched and unrealistic. Nevertheless, I have learned over the years to ask for much more than is probably possible in hopes that what we actually get will be close to what is needed.
Based upon my comments and concerns and frustrations noted above, as accurately and as clearly as possible in the proper order, the following is what I believe should be done:
- The vetting process that screens us borrowers needs to be more thorough and based upon reality. It should be based upon the borrower’s present financial situation and monetary obligations.
- Part of the initial lending process should ultimately involve the parents, the student, the lending institution and the university or college receiving the funds. There should be complete disclosure from the onset so that the borrower and the student is completely aware of all the factors so they can make an educated decision. The parents and the student need to know how much the education is going to cost. The parents and student need to know what the payment options will be and how much interest will be accrued over the life of the loan. When we signed that dotted or digital line, we are signing up for a lot more than just money to pay for school; we are signing up for a program that will potentially dramatically change the next 30 years of our lives. If this information had been made easily obtainable from the beginning other choices would have been made.
- In order to support my second point, this third point is critical. If I am going to be borrowing money to pay for my daughter’s education I need to have complete access to not only the financial part of this arrangement but the educational part as well. At present, because of privacy laws, I can put myself into debt to pay for her education, but I can’t talk to the school and communicate my concerns about where the money is going or about how much it costs. Privacy is one thing; forced ignorance is another.
- This open forum of communication should continue on an annual basis until the child’s education is completed. An annual review of the parents borrowing ability, the child’s performance in school, and the ongoing and expected expenses should be reviewed and approved.
- Ultimately I believe these institutions, the colleges and universities, need to be held accountable for the costs that they are passing on to our children and their parents. I would never want to be responsible for denying a teacher or a faculty member their do financial compensation for educating my children. However, as it has already been made clear earlier this year that many institutions have followed questionable financial practices, it is obvious that the skyrocketing cost of education isn’t necessarily mandatory to ensure a good education.
- All of the points in the previous section need to be included here as well. There needs to be a realistic interest rate made available to everyone who borrows money for education. Additionally, all of the plans and programs that are presently available to some need to be available to everyone.
- I believe it is our government’s role in this country to support and serve the people that elect its officials. I believe that those who were elected should be paid a reasonable wage for the job that they do. I believe that the varying departments and parts of our government should be self-sufficient; they should be able to pay their own expenses with the money that they collect. I further believe that specific parts of the government should under no circumstances ever be concerned about generating income or earning a profit. Specifically speaking, I believe it is the Department of education’s job to help insure that the people of this country can get the education needed to further help ensure that this country can stay great. After what I have seen and been exposed to up to this point, it is all too easy to see that the Department of Education’s only purpose is to generate income for the Department of Education. This country already has many examples of individual states and institutions who have come together to ensure that citizens who need a helping hand with education are given a leg up rather than being taken advantage of. I think it’s important to make sure that the Department of Education is re-structured; in effect, re-educated. They need to show by their actions and how they fund education that they realize that it is not the amount of interest dollars raised that will show their success, but that it is the quality of the education that her citizens receive, and how those citizens are able to contribute to this country after the fact that will show their success as this countries’ Department of Education.
- The accruement of Interest should not begin until the child being educated has finished with his or her education and has been given a reasonable amount of time to obtain employment.
- The interest rate applied to these loans should only be sufficient to cover the expenses of the department that loans the money. Furthermore, as hinted in above bullet points, that department needs to be reviewed on an annual basis and needs to be completely accountable to the taxpayers who fund it, so that we can be assured that the expenses are reasonable and not excessive.
