> I think that's a good start. Kind of resembling a loan-forgiveness mechanism (which there are already a few). It falls into the same trap most solutions do, t

> I think that's a good start. Kind of resembling a loan-forgiveness mechanism (which there are already a few). It falls into the same trap most solutions do, though. What's "a reasonable expectation," and who decides it? One simple change that would have drastic effects is modifying the forgiveness timeframe on income based repayment (IBR) for student loans. Right now, the expiration time is 25 years [1]. In other words, 99% of all kids going to college are on the hook for paying loans for longer than they have been alive. I think the government should shorten that period down to fifteen or even ten years for any loan that is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Correspondingly, it might be a wise idea to up the current reduced payment amount from 15% of AGI [2] to maybe 25-50%. I'm throwing out numbers here, clearly some careful study would be warranted if this idea was seriously considered. This would probably mean a corresponding increase in loan forgiveness for public servents (teachers, firefighters, public defenders, etc). I'm not opposed to such an idea prima facie. My expectation is this will drastically reduce the availability of certain types of degrees. The upside is we won't have a ton of young kids floating around with degrees they can't use and loan burdens they can't meet. 1. http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-based http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans/income... 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loans_in_the_United_States#Income-Based_Repayment_Plan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loans_in_the_United_Sta... EDIT: one more thing I forgot to mention: I think that, like many social systems with complex feedback, you cannot reduce this problem to "too much loans" or "too much spending". It's difficult to delineate cause from effect, but it's indisputable that the easy availability of credit has at least enabled recent skyrocketing tuition.