I like the Australian model of government subsidised loans that are indexed by CPI and repayments are garnished from earnings after meeting a certain income threshold. There's no federal scholarship program or any of that sort of thing (though there are meagre scholarships people can apply for at each university), and there's no such thing as a educational loan from banks and private lenders.

My guess is that it would result in more loans that aren’t called student loans. For example, via parents.

That wouldn't distort the college market like ubiquitous student loans backed by the government do, so I don't see why that would be a problem.

The claim is that “inequality would fall substantially” and I don’t see how it would when only the children of well-off families (or at least with good credit) can get college loans.

I have wondered about the effects of adding minimum wages/salaries for positions that require each degree level. For example, if the job requires a bachelor degree or masters degree then the job must pay at least $X/hr. Set that rate just high enough to discourage abuse.

Not sure how you’d enforce it when jobs would just silently require it but not advertise that fact. Or maybe not require it, but preference anyone who has one.