After reading the cover article in the Feb. 16 issue, I felt it necessary to bring to light a few pieces of information with which college students should be familiar.

Though inexcusable for being a political science major, I am not as well versed with President Obama’s fiscal policies or what was recently said at his State of the Union address.

Many students are concerned about college affordability and are forced to turn to student loans.

Part of Obama’s strategy to mitigate cost is to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of a person’s monthly income.

The country’s current economic condition is a result of a policy that’s focused purely on the short term.

Lenders, creditors, Sallie Mae, and any other organizations that provide loans for schools or any other purpose are able to charge what they do because all of our money, debt, and interest owed is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The federal government takes the risk out of doing business for the banks by allowing them to provide loans to people who would otherwise be unqualified.

Without the FDIC, many banks would have failed due to poor business practices and unwise investments.

Without the shield that these policies provide, colleges could not charge what they do for tuition, as very few would qualify for the loans to pay tuition.

As a result, institutions would be forced to lower their rates. Obama also looks to freeze interest rates at 3.4 percent.

By lowering the principal payment we make on our debts, it prolongs the period of time it takes to pay back what we owe. When we extend this period of time, it inversely affects our interest rates, raising them accordingly.

This happens because lenders have less capital to use the longer it takes a debtor to pay off what they owe.

They must be able to make a profit off of our interest so they can continue to build capital and provide services to others who would need it.

Lenders would not be able to do this because interest rates would be frozen, and the amount of money on hand to loan would decrease at a greater rate then the interest of outstanding debts could replenish it.

When this happens, banks would either fail or federal student loan agencies would be allocated more money to lend, which would continue to destroy the overall wealth of the country, as the funding would come from taxes.

If this is the result of current fiscal policy, perhaps greater control of the markets is not the solution we need.

College students need to educate themselves about the effect government policy like this has on us so they can better implement the change they want.