A Sept. 26 letter to the editor (“Students need to own their debt“) concluded with this question: “Why should I, in my retirement, be obligated to help these people (college students who are saddled with student debt) out?”

My response to the question is:
– Because young people today are facing a substantially higher cost of living than they expected before taking on this debt and launching into the working world.
– Because young people, who are strapped by debt, cannot buy homes and consumables that contribute to our nation’s economy, which in turn, weakens that economy.
– Because the majority of those young people took on student loans due to the fact that their hard-working parents were not able to foot the entire bill but wanted their kids to have a bright future.
– Because a college education should not be a privilege reserved only for the wealthy.
– Because the generation you (Williams) do not wish to support is this nation’s future.

P.S., I, too, am retirement age, continue to work, and hope to retire someday.

Audrey Gup-Mathews
Kennebunk