One can argue that it's because student loans are easy to get, that there are so many spurious universities preying on students. I wouldn't really disagree with

One can argue that it's because student loans are easy to get, that there are so many spurious universities preying on students. I wouldn't really disagree with that. Let me share a different perspective. I couldn't get a student loan. They don't make it easy to get student loans in my country. Very few are alloted by public banks and those go to the managers' favorites. Because of the lack of a collateral, private banks don't every try - too much risk. My parents had to sell the only property we had - our house - to send me to college. I don't know if that is a better situation to be honest. I'd have gladly gone into debt to let my parents keep their home. And the best part is that education wasn't even expensive for me - esp with the govt scholarship. But even that little money was a huge expense for my family. I know so many other fellow students who had a similar story. It's hard to imagine how many other families could have been lifted if they were given an opportunity like I had.