I wish I would have been turned down for the loans that paid for my MFA. I'll be paying $450/month until I'm in my 10th year of retirement on that loan. But the

I wish I would have been turned down for the loans that paid for my MFA. I'll be paying $450/month until I'm in my 10th year of retirement on that loan. But then again, the school that I went to would probably not exist if it weren't for these loans (Graduate Art School). Considering the caliber and notoriety of the graduates of this university, national culture would suffer as a result of these regulations. I have to agree that somehow the risk and the student's motivation and achievement are inversely related though there was never any inquiry into my records in the process outside of verifying that my university was on the up-and-up. But beneath this is a more fundamental question. Why can't we as a country afford the things that are important (our health, our education and our homes) when we make so much more than the developing world where they have the same basic needs? What have we actually gained (aside from creature comforts) from our high incomes as it relates to living our lives. We're borrowing money to pay for almost everything and then paying the interest the rest of our lives.