> A potential fix would be to limit the amount of government-backed student loans to something people can reasonably pay off.
They DO limit the amount of government-backed loans you can take for an undergraduate degree to $31,000 (or $57,500 if you can convince TPTB that you are 'independent', which is much harder than it sounds.)
Other loans don't have limits, but aren't government backed. They're private loans but get many of the same privileges, including that the loans aren't dischargeable in bankruptcy. This sort of makes sense, because you can't repossess a degree, but it also sort of doesn't because of the points you made.
They DO limit the amount of government-backed loans you can take for an undergraduate degree to $31,000 (or $57,500 if you can convince TPTB that you are 'independent', which is much harder than it sounds.)
Other loans don't have limits, but aren't government backed. They're private loans but get many of the same privileges, including that the loans aren't dischargeable in bankruptcy. This sort of makes sense, because you can't repossess a degree, but it also sort of doesn't because of the points you made.