>The reason they aren't dischargeable is because what bank in their right mind would give a loan to an 18 year old with no collateral?
Why is that a bad thing? This pushes choosing a good degree from something entirely on the 18 year old to something the market is deciding, by calculating the risk of a default, and removes much of the penalty from making a bad call from the 18 year old. Yes, not everyone will qualify for a loan, but if the bank who is interested in making money off loans decides your plan isn't worth a loan (and this bank has plenty of money to loan, so it can invest in many and aim at averages) thinks you are too likely to not get a good job and will default... maybe you should consider what that means.
And it puts downward pressure on college prices, like you mention.
>they would just be completely out of reach of poor and middle class students.
There aren't enough colleges to survive on just upper class students. So either the colleges will go out of business or they will have to learn how to be in reach of the rest of the population.
Why is that a bad thing? This pushes choosing a good degree from something entirely on the 18 year old to something the market is deciding, by calculating the risk of a default, and removes much of the penalty from making a bad call from the 18 year old. Yes, not everyone will qualify for a loan, but if the bank who is interested in making money off loans decides your plan isn't worth a loan (and this bank has plenty of money to loan, so it can invest in many and aim at averages) thinks you are too likely to not get a good job and will default... maybe you should consider what that means.
And it puts downward pressure on college prices, like you mention.
>they would just be completely out of reach of poor and middle class students.
There aren't enough colleges to survive on just upper class students. So either the colleges will go out of business or they will have to learn how to be in reach of the rest of the population.