As another commenter says, any semblance of the private student loan industry was wiped out shortly after the financial crisis. All the US student debt is now e

As another commenter says, any semblance of the private student loan industry was wiped out shortly after the financial crisis. All the US student debt is now essentially backstopped by the US Federal government (in quasi-government run institutions like Sallie Mae). What will happen when this bubble bursts is that we will bail out the bad loans using US taxpayer money. This is another reason why universities can continue to raise tuition rates: they know there is significant political support to having the government "help students pay for college". The government tipped their hand regarding being open to outright forgiveness of debt by including a rule that they do full debt forgiveness if you go work for a non-profit right after school. This turns out to be a fantastic deal if you go to medical school. You can rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in med school loans, go get a job at non-profit hospital for several years (and get paid market rates for your skills!), and then saddle the US taxpayer with your med school loans.