Except for the fact that for the vast majority of student loan recipients the debt is modest and anything but "crippling". This is a complete mischaracterization of what the reality is.
Sure, agreed. As long as the taxpayer is protected and future loans are then treated as a personal non-recourse loan, which is essentially what they are. Prevailing interest rates for those are 15-20%, at the least. Let's recognize the risk for what it is if we allow for regular bankruptcy and take steps to protect the taxpayer.
Universities dramatically increased non teaching payroll, etc. with the huge flow of monies from the Feds. It is estimated that 67 cents on every Pell Grant dollar inflated costs instead of subsidizing them. We gave universities huge gobs of cash and they raised prices to capture as much as possible. Some part of this is also the decreasing state support, but a huge part is the ocean of cash we've provided these institutions.