or just make them dischargeable by bankrupcty and let the market price in the default rate and see what happens.
it’s terrible policy & imo immoral to let people be stuck in virtual debt peonage their entire life because of loans they took out at 18.
These loans aren't coming from the market. If students had to go to a private bank and make a case about why they were a good investment, student loans would look a lot different--to say nothing about college in general.
Wells Fargo does offer a type of student loan, but it looks like you have to have someone cosign it with you (probably your parents).
Back in the 90s over 90% of student loans were Federal. I'm not sure what the percentage is now.