And to be clear - if it was a purely government funded thing there would be strong price controls around it (the same reason why doctors pushed back against the

And to be clear - if it was a purely government funded thing there would be strong price controls around it (the same reason why doctors pushed back against the original compulsory medical insurance plans in the 30s, and why there's so much back and forth around medicare covering stuff or not, doctors accepting it or not, etc). But by underwriting debt this way we have an agency problem; the government isn't incentivized to say "no" to bad debt, and students aren't informed enough (just the opposite, as you mention, the discourse is irrational. I don't agree with 'underdeveloped brains', so much as no cultural pressure or life experience to 'count the cost').