When the government guaranteed student loans, it removed the risk for colleges. This allowed them to hike tuition prices unchecked, knowing students had access to funding. The resulting flood of graduates has also made a college degree less of a differentiator in the job market.

The student debt crisis is less about the cost of college and more about the failure to graduate. The vast majority of a degree's economic benefit is realized only upon completion. Attending college without graduating is a poor investment, making completion rates a more critical focus for policy than enrollment.

Runaway costs in education, housing, and healthcare stem from government intervention. When the government promises to provide a service (e.g., student loans), it becomes a massive "buy-only" force with no price sensitivity, eliminating natural market forces and causing costs to balloon.

A surge in student loan delinquency rates to double-digit levels indicates significant financial distress, particularly for the middle third of the income distribution. These borrowers are forced to prioritize essential expenses like housing over their loan payments, revealing a deepening affordability crisis.

Despite their non-profit status, university administrators and faculty act as capitalists focused on increasing compensation while reducing accountability. They leverage artificial scarcity, cheap government-backed credit, and accreditation barriers to raise tuition faster than inflation, effectively exploiting the middle class under a veneer of nobility.

A serious approach to the affordability crisis requires a multi-year strategy targeting the biggest cost drivers: housing (massive supply increase), healthcare (nationalization), and education (income-based tuition), combined with aggressive antitrust enforcement. Piecemeal solutions from either party fail to address the systemic nature of the problem.

Widespread cancellation of medical debt, while well-intentioned, may remove consumer pressure on providers. If patients don't need to shop around or question prices because they anticipate forgiveness, it eliminates a key market force needed to control escalating costs.

To fix the student debt crisis, universities should be financially on the hook for the first portion of any loan default (e.g., $20,000). This "first loss" position would compel them to underwrite the economic viability of their own degrees, creating a powerful market check against pushing students into overpriced and low-value programs.

Debating AI's impact on education is a distraction from the real crisis: the business model of elite universities. By creating artificial scarcity and raising tuition faster than inflation, they have become a "corrupt cartel." The solution isn't technological, but simple: admit significantly more students.