De La Torre 1 Alejandra De La Torre John Kubler English 114A 29 October 2013 Exercise 3.

1: Analysis and Response to Four Articles In Brian Holmes article Silence=Debt, he begins with an anecdote about his personal experiences with student loans. He wasnt paying the loans back on time, yet right when they were about to put penalties, he would pay. However, he did not default which would have caused penalties and further interest. He is now realizing that he got lucky many years ago when he got his degrees when public education was still public, and therefore relatively cheap (2). He then starts to explain when the student loans first started, which was during the Cold War. Tuition was cheap at the time and only a few made it to college. Both federal and private student loans cannot be escaped by bankruptcy. In a way it seems student loans were created to lure students who couldnt afford it to go to college. Holmes believes that financial services companies were corrupted. He begins informing us on statistics about the percentage of students who took out loans in the past couple years. He continues to pile statistics about how the loans just keep increasing. The author uses an appeal to pathos as he includes his personal anecdote for the readers. Nevertheless, he makes an appeal to logos when he mentions the statistics about the increasing student loans. There is growing doubt about whether college is really worth it, and growing awareness of the loan scam. In Richard Vedders article Forgive Student Loans? he addresses I think it is actually the second-worst idea ever the worst was the creation of federally subsidized student loans in the first place (1). Overall he doesnt think loans are a very bright idea for young college students. They shouldnt be trusted with a loan of such a high amount. It is said that forgiving

De La Torre 2 student loans can actually better the economy. If the government forgave student loans, [the students] would start spending more on goods and services, [which leads to] stimulating employment (2). Vedder points out that assisting student with their loans would not be fair to those who have dutifully repaid their loans with no help. Furthermore, he brings up the question who exactly is going to pay the the trillion of dollars that will be in debt from forgiving loans. Someone has to be responsible to repay that. Most likely innocent individuals like taxpayers would get stuck with the bill of someone elses responsibility. His main argument is that student loans shouldnt be forgiven because then everyone else suffers. The entire economy can go trillions in debt if the loans are forgiven. The author appeals to ethos because he uses many credible sources. For example, Economist Justin Wolfers is a certified economist that knows what he is talking about when it comes to what is good for the economy and what isnt. He also uses an appeal to logos by using different statistics. For instance a statistic would be In 1970about 12 percent of college graduates came from the bottom one-fourth of the income distribution (2). In Vice President Joe Bidens article Ensuring the Student Loans are Affordable he believes every every student in America should be able to afford college. Even with a loan a student could be part of a special payment program to finish paying their debt little by little. Vice President Biden opened the article by addressing a quote from President Obama. Overall they believe no one should go broke from wanting to go to college and have a better future. To give Americans a chance to afford colleges, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act gives student borrowers new choices in how they repay their loans. If enrolling in 2014, the new law will limit payments to 10 percent of income, five percent less than this year. In addition, the new law will forgive any remaining debt after 20 years, or after 10 years for those in public service. These proposals are part of the Obama-Biden Administrations ambitious agenda to help make

De La Torre 3 higher education more affordable and to help more Americans have a get a better education and earn college degrees. Vice President Biden is mostly appealing to ethos. He is the vice president and is quoting ideas from the president himself. They are very credible people when it comes to making laws happen. The fact the the vice president wrote this makes it highly credible because they make the laws and pass them. They both make it happen. The evidence he uses to support his argument is the law they passed for the student enrolling 2014. This law proves they want more Americans to afford college. In Doug Ledermans article Deceptive Practices in Loan Industry he believes that there is uncovered deceptive practices between the lenders and the banks and institutions. There is an unholy alliance between banks and institutions of higher education that may often not be in the students' best interest. The financial arrangements between lenders and these schools are filled with the potential for conflicts of interest. In some cases they can even break the law, which makes it illegal. I find it interesting that the article considers "Lenders offering large payments to institutions to drop out of the federal direct loan program so the lenders get more business" as a "deceptive practice." The lenders are able to take more advantage of the students. The institutions under the federal direct loan program are monitored by the government. This author uses pathos throughout the article. There is no appeal to logos because no facts or statistics are given. Ethos cannot be it either because there is nothing credible about this the article on deceptive practices which are just assumptions. This article is an appeal to pathos because it gives you a sense of mixed feelings about the lenders doing unlawful things. Those who are affected are the students who are trying to get a better education to have a better future. Students have enough to deal with when it comes to paying a debt in thousands of dollars. The last thing they need is to be played behind their back.