Then post 15 by Vigilanteman makes a lot of sense. Tie the loan to the type of degree.
It’s still a dumb loan to make without some “higher power” guaranteeing payment. The degree they’re seeking doesn’t really matter if they don’t get it and more importantly the job on the other side. That’s the big risk problem with the student loans, it’s not what degree they’re seeking it’s the failure rate. And of course outside of a handful of jobs the degree you get means nothing to the job you’re gonna get. In my software company we have people with degrees ranging from Russian Lit to geology and everything in between, there’s even a couple of guys with computer related degrees.
Really it’s a question of if student loans should exist or not. If you think they should then they need to be guaranteed, in order for that guarantee to mean anything then discharging them in bankruptcy must be at least very difficult. If the government is to step out entirely then student loans basically end.