There’s $1.5 trillion of student loan debt. ~$800 billion of that is Stafford loans. 11.4% is delinquent. How much of that debt could have been issued without

There’s $1.5 trillion of student loan debt. ~$800 billion of that is Stafford loans. 11.4% is delinquent. How much of that debt could have been issued without the Fed guaranteeing it? That is a huge subsidy in and of itself. Also, whether it is [currently] dischargeable or not, a massive percentage of that debt is probably not actually serviceable. That means the Day of Reckoning will come where the Fed takes a haircut on that loan balance. And that will amount to the largest ever recognized subsidy in tertiary education in the history of the world. It was sold as a Federally guaranteed loan program, but when you make a massive loan to someone who can never repay it, it’s actually a grant. It’s just not politically convenient to admit it (yet).