Right now, there is literally no disincentive for banks to lend money to aspiring college students. An investment with a guaranteed return, with zero possibility of default (or Uncle Sam picks up the tab)? What's not to love! It's basically printing money! All this excess cash floating around is bound to have upward pressure on prices. The worst part is, there's trillions of dollars of this stuff going around, and I'm sure it's leveraged as well. We could be looking at another mortgage crisis. People in my generation (class of '07) are not going to be able to repay this debt. There's just no way. Not dischargeable in bankruptcy? So what? I can hold a gun to your head and demand a million dollars, but if you don't have a million dollars... Of course, the loans are federally guaranteed, so that means We the People will be picking up the tab. And our government is already bankrupt. American student loan sovereign debt crisis? Maybe I need a tinfoil hat.