This much student loan debt shouldn't be legal

Orlando: The federal student loan program debacle has turned into a financial nightmare for many college students. A loan that might have originated at $30,000 could over time have a balance of two to three times that.

Wall Street and universities see excellent prey. Student loans are bought, packaged and sold on financial markets with delicious fees that keep going. Universities love the guaranteed cash flow with all the incentive to keep raising tuition. Aren't most colleges nonprofit? Like most financial products, there's a derivative waiting to adopt it and another derivative to adopt the previous one. Fees can get quite lucrative through financial engineering. How did a good program go rogue? Over time, the benefactors of Congress saw the program as a bonanza -- the only loan that doesn't come under the U.S. Constitution's Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4, where you can discharge a loan through bankruptcy. Business, mortgage, credit card and personal loans are protected under this provision, but why not student loans? They affect borrowers for the rest of their lives. If they stop payment, their Social Security retirement benefits can be denied or reduced. The One Big Beautiful Bill stops the president from cancelling student loan debt through executive order. You've got to love those 535 wonderful people on Capitol Hill!

President Trump has been the beneficiary of bankruptcy six times as a businessman. Without that protection, he wouldn't have accumulated his vast wealth, nor would he be president. Why doesn't he see that our young people have the same bankruptcy rights that he used so that they can realize their dreams, too? Lee R. Pitts

Walking among us

Ozone Park: I see where a biotech engineering firm is trying to bring back the long-extinct dodo bird. Just look in the White House, there's one there with light orange hair and a red tie. Ray Hackinson

No thanks

Queens Village: Never have I seen a president wanting lower crime in dangerous cities. The National Guard made a big difference in a drop in crime in D.C. I can't understand why Democratic leaders are not showing unity on these efforts. They can't express gratitude to Trump, which they feel is more important than preventing crime. Very sad. Frank Barnett

Extrajudicial killing

Merion Station, Pa.: Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are like gloating gamers after another suspected Venezuelan drug-smuggling vessel was blown up. Before Jan. 20, 2025, suspected drug-smuggling vessels traveling in international waters could be stopped by U.S. Coast Guard cutters or Navy ships for inspection. Now, they are blown up without evidence in complete violation of maritime and American law. After commemorating the signing of the Constitution on Sept. 17, we should recall the despotism and undemocratic government that colonists rebelled against, and the principles of American governance that seem to be disappearing day by day. Paul L. Newman

Silencing speech

Ashburn, Va.: So, Trump has bullied the Walt Disney Company and ABC into suspending Jimmy Kimmel. Why? Because Kimmel dared to suggest that Charlie Kirk's murderer may have been a right-winger or a left-winger, a possibility that was credible at the time. First Stephen Colbert, now Kimmel. Who will be next? It's not reassuring to know that Trump threatened an ABC reporter who asked about Attorney General Pam Bondi's crackdown on "hate" speech. "She'd probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly." Have we forgotten what George Washington said about free speech? "[If] freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." Mike Barrett

Corporate capitulation

Manhattan: Shame on ABC and Disney for capitulating to the whims of a would-be dictator. Think of the generations that may suffer in the future because of your anti-democratic actions today. It's a sad day when we're cowed into silence by a bully-felon. Chris Santoro

Darkening times

Kew Gardens: Under the heading "the more the world changes, the more it stays the same," the finger-pointing following the death of Kirk is all too familiar. Back in the late 1960s, anyone who disagreed with the government, their parents or the church was called a communist or a communist sympathizer. The FBI was installing undercover agents on college campuses to find those communists. JFK, MLK and RFK were assassinated. Finally, students were shot and killed by the National Guard on Kent State University's campus for demonstrating. Fast-forward to the present: The government wants to arrest those exercising free speech, calling them terrorists. When will America wake up and learn from its mistakes? Doing things the same way over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Jeff Pullen

Sorely needed

Peters Township, Pa.: In the aftermath of the hideous and outrageous assassination of right-wing activist Kirk, a country deeply divided and with some calling for civil war, we desperately needed responsible leadership. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox delivered. In sharp contrast to a president who fanned the flames of rage, claiming that extremists exist only on the left and pledging that only the left will be investigated, Cox provided a message of unity, urging our people to turn down the temperature, to "find an off-ramp." He accurately noted that the alternative is a tit-for-tat spate of violence that metastasizes. Notably absent from his comments was blame ascribed to the right or left. Cox is a statesman. If only we had such an individual leading our country at a time of great peril. Oren Spiegler

Lowly language

Glendale: As far as I know, Kirk welcomed open debate with anyone willing to spar with him. I have sent many letters to the Voice of the People requesting that letters that resort to name-calling not be published. However, it's obvious that the Daily News aims to inflame tensions and tempers rather than have mature discussions based on facts. After reading numerous letters recently that resorted to name-calling of Charlie, such as racist, sexist, misogynist, etc., it's obvious that no one in their right mind would want to marry such a monster, right? It's obvious that Kirk would have destroyed these Voicers in a civilized debate since their letters contain no substance or facts. I would like to know if any of these name-callers ever went to a college/university where Charlie was speaking and debated him, or attempted to. Thomas Murawski

Tainted support

Massapequa Park, L.I.: Gov. Hochul's endorsement of Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani proves one thing above all else: She does not care about New York City. She cares more about fighting Trump. Mamdani's policies of "free" services will bankrupt New York. The ultra-rich will pack up and take their business and money with them, leaving the middle class to pick up the shortfall. God help NYC if he is elected mayor. Raymond P. Moran

Electoral death knell

Brooklyn: Mamdani is the final nail in the coffin for New York City. He is antisemitic and anti-American. His own party doesn't support him. That has to tell you something. He wants to abolish prisons and private property. Free buses -- not happening. The MTA is raising fares in 2026. Please vote wisely. Vote for Curtis Sliwa or Andrew Cuomo. Maureen Deman

Sins of his father

Astoria: To Voicer Alana Wilson: That's correct, the expensive loft in the Village is owned by Mamdani's mother, Mira Nair. As a married couple, it's fair to assume his parents do things jointly, like collecting the $6,500 monthly rent while their son whines about rent stabilization. On that note, once his salary more than doubled, he should have stood by his convictions and voluntarily given up his rent-stabilized digs. He didn't. That's why he's a hypocrite. Nothing troubling about Cuomo moving into his daughter's apartment to meet residency requirements. What is troubling is Mamdani's father, Mahmood, an Islamic fundamentalist lunatic who has compared the Founding Fathers to Hitler and the U.S.A. to Nazi Germany. He's a lecturer at Columbia University, and this is the garbage he's putting into impressionable young minds, like his son's. Bradley Morris

Readers sound off on student debt, Jimmy Kimmel's suspension and Mamdani's candidacy