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Comment by pdog | Hacker News Reader

Why is the federal government the largest single lender to students? This is a direct transfer from taxpayers to a few public and private institutions. If colleges and universities were responsible for student debt, they never would have made these loans that need to be forgiven in the first place.

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It's the American way: profits are private but losses are public. (See also the health insurance system.)

>The overall government loan program—currently totaling $1.26 trillion of debt outstanding, including privately issued loans backed by the government—continues to generate a profit, though these projected revenues are dwindling as more people go into income-based repayment.

Check out the US crop insurance system for an even better example. It'll make you laugh (and cry).

Are there any standard paths to getting in on this scam? I'm tired of always being picked to fund other people's carelessness.

Harvard Business School, I guess?

If the federal government is lending to students then "taxpayers" (as a collective) aren't funding colleges, the individual students are (who are taxpayers individually, but I don't think that's what you meant).

And if the government participates in loan forgiveness, then the fact that the government is also a lender isn't really relevant, because the taxpayers will be covering that bill anyway.

Really, it's for the best that the federal government gets any interest from student loans, rather than private banks having a vested interest in the growth of tuition rates.

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