Capping the loan limits isn’t ever going to happen - that would mean a whole slew of college juniors would have to drop out... and the colleges/universities themselves would scream about that (never mind the students).
35 years ago my 4-year tuition was paid for in full via a $1500 scholarship. My son is in the midst of his freshman year at around $16,000 total cost per semester. It’s about costs way outpacing incomes - that’s what’s generating the loans.
It’s a two-part problem. Yes, the easy money loans are half of it, but the other half is that everyone thinks they are smart enough to go to college nowadays, because the “self esteem” movement told them all that.
Even if you fix the issues with loans, you’ll still have inflated demand jacking the tuition up, until people start to realize that college is not for everyone.
It's a vicious circle. Costs were in line with salaries back in the 1960s before there were student loans. Before unqualified people went to college. When nearby community colleges and state colleges for undergraduates provided a very inexpensive way to get an adequate undergraduate education. A student had to be pretty qualified to get in the state college...no special programs for the unqualified. No expensive extras.
Then the gov put in things such as Pell Grans and tuitions at these inexpensive institutions went up, just about the amount of the freebie. Then the gov "helped" colleges with building programs, and the mortgages and expenses of maintenance caused expenses to increase. Then even the most lowly colleges put in expensive speakers programs, recreational facilities, you name it, raising costs.
How does it end? Cuban's correct. The bubble's gotta' burst. If that happened, people might actually demand that kids get a public HS education to prepare them for the real world, just a it was in the old days.
USC, estimated costs for 2014-15. Tuition, room and board, books, fees:
$60,700
https://www.cappex.com/colleges/University-of-Southern-California/tuition-and-costs