It's based on supply and demand. Since anyone and their dog can get a student loan, and the federal government guarantees those loans, demand for college educat

It's based on supply and demand. Since anyone and their dog can get a student loan, and the federal government guarantees those loans, demand for college education is basically inelastic. You can keep raising prices without losing students: they're just going to borrow more money. It's basically the same mechanism as that of subprime loans, where anyone got to buy a house they couldn't afford, except that it's federally mandated.