Except its a program that can be managed correctly. The problem was that there were no incentives to do so. My understanding is that loans initially were smalle

Except its a program that can be managed correctly. The problem was that there were no incentives to do so. My understanding is that loans initially were smaller and helped with the cost of tuition at a time where tuition was more affordable, but still out of reach for many working class families. Now they can pay for all of tuition and the cost of tuition is just pegged to the max loan offer from the government. No one put in sane cost controls. No one told the universities that federal money wouldn't just increase to their whims. No one told students what its really like in real life to payback a 50k or 100k or even 150+k loan for a 4 year degree. What that means as an opportunity cost compared to cheaper schooling. My relatively modest loan is like making car payments on a decent car everything month... for 20 years. So 4 lower-end Lexus's if you consider interest. Or less to put in retirement. I have no idea how people with large loans get by. I imagine the recent Obama rules regarding loan repayment as percentage of salary helps with an 20 year payment forgiveness plan. Not sure if the new business friendly administration is going to keep that in place.