Private companies do not do the lending, the DOE does. Stafford loans, both subsidized and unsubsidized, are issued directly by the DOE to the university. The

Private companies do not do the lending, the DOE does. Stafford loans, both subsidized and unsubsidized, are issued directly by the DOE to the university. There is no middleman. What private companies are you talking about? Edit: I see what you are talking about. You are referring to loans issued under the discontinued Federal Family Education Loan Program[1]. That program ended in 2010 and, I believe, remaining loans issued under that program represent a relatively small portion of the DOE's $1.4T holding. The vast majority of what the DOE currently holds are loans directly issued by the DOE, and any talk of current education expense inflation cannot be separated from that. There are no banks to blame this on anymore. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Family_Education_Loan_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Family_Education_Loan_...