It's actually more fascist than socialized, which is why you see "private" institutions affected just as much. By fascist I am not equivocating Nazi Germany, b

It's actually more fascist than socialized, which is why you see "private" institutions affected just as much. By fascist I am not equivocating Nazi Germany, but rather saying the means of production are heavily influenced by government regulators. The commenter above who talks about loans hit the nail on the head. And those loans are largely backed by the Federal Government. It would be interesting if you had to go to a bank (who also didn't have the FDIC backing) and demonstrating the probability your education will make you able to pay the debt you're about to incur. I think you'd see far fewer loans, and also better market signals for the types of majors that are worth high dollar figures. Right now there's no significant market signal. The primary signal is whatever lobbyists can curry favor with the government to get money or more funding for huge loan programs.