Paying for Higher Education

Thank you for the well written Opinion page article "For Many, a Void After High School," May 12. Having gotten a student loan at one time myself, I can testify to the flaws of this type of financial aid.

One loan is never enough; my loan of $5,000 covered tuition for one semester, and room and board for two. In addition, we are encouraging the borrowing behavior, as opposed to saving, at a young age. And, as the article points out, there is a high default risk in these loans.

If we do not come up with better financial-aid programs, not only won't our students take "full advantage" of the higher education system, but the diversity and flexibility that the author talks about will also be in jeopardy. Our universities and colleges are already eliminating departments and classes for the lack of students and funds. Shervin S. Churchill, Miami Praise for "I'll Fly Away'

I am so grateful to see the article "TV's ll Fly Away' Strikes at Racism" on the Media page of May 14. It is a wonderful program but, as your writer points out, it has critical acclaim and relatively few viewers.

When most of TV's offerings are so shallow and pointless, "I'll Fly Away" is such a refreshing and needed breath of fresh air. Let's hope that your comments will help the program to return next season. Grayce Scholt, Flint, Mich. Facing racism

The editorial "Trial By Jury," May 8, did a fine job of summarizing why many thoughtful Americans are refusing to join a media-inspired lynch mob following the Simi Valley verdict. But we should also comment on the dreadful insult implicit in the assumption that having a black on the jury would necessarily have changed the outcome.

Civil-rights activists have told us for decades that blacks and other minorities simply want fair and equal treatment. Assuming that a black on the jury would have made a politically correct finding regardless of the facts presented to that jury flies in the face of those assurances. Fair-minded Americans should reject any such theory. William G. Dennis, Kelso, Wash.

I was outraged when I first saw the footage of Rodney King being beaten by four white police officers, and again when the court put its stamp of approval on the beating.

But I can't say that I was shocked, or even surprised. Instead both scenes were depressingly familiar, and emblematic of the institutional racism whose effects I see daily in my line of work. Bob Gross, Liberty Mills, Ind., Associate Director, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty