The loans are part of the reason college is so expensive in the first place. It's a jacked up system. It needs to stop. The government should not be in the business of student loans. If private banks want to make these loans fine, just deal with it when they default, no bailouts!!!
Bingo. It's a spiral of affordability
"Everyone should be able to afford to go to college" -> everyone gets loans -> college prices increase with the expansion of credit -> middle class get priced out of college without huge loans.
We're right back to where we started but now with 100k debt. The problem is once a credit bubble is inflated, it is difficult to disinflate without real pain: if government loans disappeared tomorrow, 3/4 of students wouldn't be able to afford attending. Of course over time prices would fall, universities would make necessary cuts to administrative bloat, etc. But the suffering in the near term would be real. This is why a little responsibility up front to prevent these problems from forming is vital.
Am I the only one that went into a cheap in-state university with a great engineering program that only cost me $4500/year including a meal program and a room? I was turning down job offers during my third year. My ex-wife on the otherhand went to a for-profit art school that cost $25k per quarter and it was a year round school. She maybe earned 40k with her degree total before she gave up and stated teaching yoga. What a fucking waste of money. Thank God her parents covered it and I didn't get stuck with that bill
Those getting paid: university and financiers Those getting screwed: students and taxpayers