In response to Drew Pensyl's "Students with no income shouldn't be given credit" (Aug. 13), to which I say, your sophomore son is an adult and should be able to think for himself. Bank of America is a business, as is the Penn State Alumni Association. They function with the sole purpose of making money. It behooves Bank of America to sign your son up for credit cards so they can charge interest and make money. Bank of America in turn pays the PSUAA a fee to use their name. This a simple concept --capitalism, the foundation of our economy.

Rather than coddle your son and make excuses for his actions that could ultimately turn into poor choices, why don't you educate him on the topic? Teach him about financial responsibility. He is obviously smart enough to get into college so he might understand simple finances too. If anyone at Penn State or the Penn State Alumni Association cared about "assist[ing] young students in obtaining fiscal 'know how' " then out-of-state students wouldn't have absurd loans racked up after college because of the cost of out-of-state tuition to attend a great university.

Robert M. Johnston Jr.

Class of 2005