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Dear Editor,

The South Dakota Democratic Party just sent out a flyer in the mail that says Tim Johnson is helping college students with lowering college costs. According to their flyer, the Chronicle of Higher Education says he has helped save students and families between $400 and $600 a year on student loan interest rate cuts with legislation he wrote. How can this be when he has also written and submitted bankruptcy legislation that will cause credit card companies to charge up to 5% more on current rates (Business Week 9/19/02 p.62)? The current average college graduate right now has $5800 in credit card debt. The graduate who has to pay his/her credit card debt at that level, could pay over $4,800 in just interest alone. Let say a graduate takes six years to finish school. The maximum amount of savings on Tim Johnson’s student loan legislation would only be $3600! The average graduate will now pay an extra $1,200 because of the increased interest rates in Tim Johnson’s new bankruptcy legislation! That same Business Week article also says he has raised $57,000 so far in campaign contributions from credit card companies. Therefore, it is suspect that these contributions come from the interest you pay on debt to the politicians who say they “deliver”.

Kevin MaxwellRapid City, SDSDSU Class of 2002

My contact info is: 813 E. Oakland St., Rapid City, SD 57701, 690-0025 cell