WASHINGTON -- I had no idea I would touch off such a storm when I recently wrote that college students, who are racking up student loan debt that could take them two or three decades to pay off, can't afford to take spring break vacations.
    
Reader responses fell into two camps. In the far more financially responsible and conservative camp were those who argued that being young isn't an excuse to spend unwisely. Then there was the camp that argued college students should throw financial caution to the wind because they're only young once.
    
Here's a sampling of what folks in the “don't spend what you don't have'' corner had to say:
     -- “Far too many people feel like they 'need' to indulge themselves,'' wrote a Scotch Plains, NJ., mother of two college students who haven't taken spring break vacations. “I guess it helps that I never went on lavish vacations myself. My children knew I was saving for more important things -- like their educations.''
     -- Karla Weigold of Minneapolis said: “I want what I want when I want it' is the perfect phrase and description for too many spending habits these days."
     -- “While in college I went on spring break once or twice, and of course I couldn't afford it," wrote a captain in the Marine Corps. “I was one of those who piled on the credit card debt and student loans while holding down two jobs. And I paid for all the 'fun' I had over the next five years as my wife and I struggled to pay off our credit cards."
    
Now here's a sample of the comments from the “you're only young once" crowd (some of the writers asked that I not use their names):
     -- “As a college student who has amassed a reasonable amount of debt due to trips, my parents are always behind me in my decisions to go abroad. This includes for leisure or academic purposes. They never had the opportunity to venture off to these locations and they see it as an advantage for me to have the privilege of expanding my horizon."
     -- David W. Pearlman, a certified financial planner from Lauderhill, Fla. wrote: “I would ordinarily agree with paying off debt before going on vacation, but in this instance, I must take exception to your article. The four years after a young person graduates high school and is in college are a very special time. While nobody should spend money frivolously, when will (college students) have this type of fun again?"
     -- “Let's say that a college student went on a different vacation every year, at a rate of return of just one memory a day complimented by one cultural experience a year ... he would end up with something you can't put a dollar sign in front of. Sure he might not have the down payment for a house, but at least he's interesting when you meet him at a party."
     -- “I graduated from college with $25,000 in loan debt. I am now completing law school. I will end up with almost $150,000 in debt by the time I finish. I spent one summer traveling abroad during law school and will spend another month doing so after I take the bar exam and before I start my job. These trips will cost me close to $10,000 -- none of which I have in cash to spend. Isn't the point of debt to smooth your consumption over your life? I have the time to vacation now but not the money. Later in life I expect to have the money but not the time. Financial wisdom is critical in life, but so is living life and remembering that income is earned to live.''
    
I wanted to bang my head on my desk after reading that last e-mail. “Running up a credit card and spending what one does not have will surely be a hard habit to break,'' pointed out Diane Street of Dover, Del. “These young adults don't learn responsibility in one day or in one year. It is an ongoing process.''
    
That's right. It's a process that should start long before you go off to college. And this notion that reckless piling on of consumer debt is excusable because you're young and need to experience life is ludicrous. Besides, as Teri Siber of Canton, Ohio, pointed out, “Your life doesn't end when you are no longer in college.''  People who fell into the “you're only young once'' camp act as if nary a single post-college adult has ever taken a vacation once they left school.
    
But I guess I can't argue with one Michigan college student who maintained that young people have a right to make their own mistakes. She wrote: “I'd just like to remind you that college students are also adults. If we don't know how to handle our finances (our business) then it's our own fault and in the end we'll suffer.''
    
She's right (sigh). Young people do have the right to be as simple as they want to be.

Listen to Michelle Singletary discuss personal finance every Tuesday on NPR's “Day to Day.'' To hear her reports online go to www.npr.org. Readers can write to her c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071. Her e-mail address is singletarym@washpost.com. Comments and questions are welcome, but due to the volume of mail, personal responses may not be possible. Please also note comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.
    
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