Federal student aid (Pell grants and subsidized student loans) encourage this trend, because student "need" depends on college prices. The Federal government should declare that student need will be calculated on a maximum fee for tuition and housing of say $50K per year. Colleges could charge more than that, but students would not be eligible for larger federal grants and loans because college costs exceeding $50K.
Maybe we should take the government out of the student loan lending business, and put the entire process and onerous on the schools. I have always been very upset by the amount of fees that schools tack on. It seems education at the University level might actually improve if the university had to care about student loans instead of letting the government take all the responsibility