Financial literacy is not enough. Lenders are always going to have more knowledge about their own financial products and the ability of the borrower to make payments. For example, in the subprime mortgage crisis, borrowers were blamed for recklessly borrowing money. This makes no sense. Who is more reckless, 1) a working class borrower with little financial literacy taking a loan, or 2) a multibillion dollar, multinational bank with extensive financial knowledge giving that loan to the borrower? It's the same situation with student loans. Don't blame the students, blame the banks.