Of course it does. Why do you think 20-something’s with no income or assets can get tens of thousands of unsecure debt at low interest rates?

If suddenly it was easy to not pay it back, lenders simply wouldn’t let them borrow to begin with.

So what did they do before 2005?

It's always been difficult to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy going back to the 1970s, and becoming increasingly strict with time. Before then, tuitions were much lower.

i failed to get student loans because my mother still owed everything she borrowed for her student loans, plus interest. She never paid a cent and died owing that money.

sometimes i am thankful for stupidity in the banking system. there is no way i could have sat still for 4 years at that point in my life. i have my father’s alcoholic rage to thank for not wanting to be at home, and preferring high school. at college the desire to leave home would have been met even if i didn’t attend class.

yes, and how is that my fault?

the only taxpayer that was directly affected was me, and I wasn't a taxpayer when the loan was issued.

I don’t think they said it was your fault. And frankly all taxpayers end up having to pay for deadbeats that don’t pay back their student loans, not just you.

Our parents got free/cheap college from the taxpayer, and didn't need loans at all.

At the very least, interest rates and selectivity would go way up.

The current situation is basically the government saying "it's a net positive if everyone willing to do so learns something, however unsuitable they are and useless what they learn", by guaranteeing repayments for low income graduates.

That’s an incredibly uncharitable take.

Is it untrue though? Higher education used to be paid by the state for the brightest few, the rest just didn't have an option to pursue it. Some countries tried to forecast how many engineers/doctors they'd need and ensure there are enough state-paid spots in the respective schools, not sure if the US ever did that.

Now it's pretty much available to anyone, you can bet your future income to your Egyptology study and the state still backs your loan in case you can't ever earn a decent wage.

Unlike a medical bankruptcy it's not an accident that your studies aren't making you profit, unlike a home loan your knowledge can't be repossessed.

You post-bankruptcy earnings would still benefit from your education, it's like keeping your collateral through the bankruptcy and then using it to earn money.

Got a point there or just complaints?

Since there is no way to determine what fringe studies will become important it is beneficial to have as many people highly educated in as many disciplines as possible. State guaranteed education loans accomplished this. The same people also refused to address the perverse incentives opting to allow corruption, fraud, and waste to become endemic in higher education. Now I don’t want to be uncharitable, fraud, waste, and corruption are rampant across America and increases the closer one gets to vast hoards of wealth or cash.