When you have a financial bottomless pit in a supply side equation, there is only one result: costs constantly rise. There is no incentive for anyone to reduce prices, as raising prices doesn’t curtail anyone from buying. They just pay more.
At least half of today’s tuition bills are fat. Add in up to another $2,000 in mandatory health care coverage that is charged to the student account (and thus eligible to be financed as part of a college loan - financing insurance? Wow, there’s a scam and a half.) That means, without cutting a single class, without paying a dollar more for staffing, virtually every college out there could cut their tuition bills in half. All it would require would be a minimum of 20 hours a week in classroom instruction for today’s professors, who right now average 10 hours a week. Sure, some are up to 20 hours a week, so doubling it would mean - gasp - a 40 hour work week.
On campus living could be chopped in half simply by increasing the density of students in on campus housing. Bunk beds used to be the norm on campus when I was growing up, and could easily return again. Any increase in food costs could be absorbed by offering student work experience in the kitchens, and any increase in campus cleaning could be absorbed by again allowing students to work on the campus.
Once there’s a top of the market for colleges, things will calm down. But until then, these ‘free money’ loans with no cap will ensure that college tuition only increases each and every year.
in fairness, they do work outside the classroom -- preparing for the lecture, research etc.