LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Financial aid, Romney and job creation

Fairness of the financial aid process

Going though college can be a hard time for some and for those who are having a hard time making the grade getting fair treatment when they have to appeal for financial aid so they can afford to go to school and get the education they need to be successful in life. This reader and student doesn’t think so. As far as my experience with this went the students who have to have a committee review their applications all that is speaking in the students favor is a piece of paper and the student is not allowed to speak to the committee in person or even be present while the students’ application is being reviewed. How is that fair to the student who is denied the right to face the committee and voice their story in person.

It is my firm belief that this application process needs to be changed to give students the opportunity to be present while their application is being reviewed. I think that it is a person’s right to face their accusers and speak out against them. Or is this another case of an institution that is concerned with how they look and how much money they can get from the government and turning a blind eye to students that need help and all the university can say is, “Sorry your application was denied, perhaps you should look at a community college.”

 — Mikel W. Faucett II, PIttsburg

Political precedence

Here’s some food for thought. Businesses want more profit. Does that mean the almighty dollar comes before patriotism?  That would explain off-shoring. I  see and hear complaints about bothersome regulation, but no one says which ones. The late KS Congressman Skubitz did kill one about outhouses in farm fields. No need to worry over that reg. Let’s quit interfering with financial crooks. Also, away with these guys who check oil drilling in the Gulf for safe procedure. Former Governor Romney says he needs only comply with what other politicos have done on revealing tax filings. Most seeking office are career politicians and regularly file statements of finincial interest which are public. See what I mean? Businessmen, unless appointed to public jobs, usually don’t submit these, and the former Gov. says he is an outstanding businessman..Gov. Romney complains about opposing attack ads. I guess what he did to primary opponents was ok. Isn’t there an old saying about sauce for the goose.....?  

 — Jerry E. Waltrip, Pittsburg

Need for money, jobs and change

What I’m hearing out of Washington is a call for a lot more of our money. That would be fine if we were planning the follow-up to the interstate highway system or the Internet. We should have spent all of that stimulus money and more fixing our aging infrastructure. Now we have to go deeper into debt to get that done. The administration’s plans to improve science and math education are an important first step. But we also need more people willing to start businesses and that requires developing that interest at a young age. Getting more people to enter the field of engineering and the trades will also lead to more entrepreneurship. But what we’ve heard instead is attack after attack on people who are trying to contribute to society. How is that helping us reach our goals?

This administration blames Europe for our slow economy, but they want us to be just like Europe. What am I missing? The answer to everyone’s problems is to grow the pie so we all have a bigger slice, but social mediocrity, not growth, is at the top of this administration’s list of objectives.

Americans will have to decide in November whether to give the current administration four more years to get this thing figured out, whether they can spend our money better than we can, and whether spending four years bashing job creators was time well spent when what we’ve needed the last four years is more job creators.

 — Dan Redmond, Pittsburg