[Governor Dinwiddie]

I have heard dozens of stories about people taking their student loan money and going on vacations to Aruba, buying bling, essentially squandering it away.

As a lender, why would I loan tuition money to someone enrolled in "gender studies", "negro studies", or any other "studies" program?

[NorthMountain]

why would I loan tuition money to someone enrolled in "gender studies" etc.

Exactly. In a free market, you wouldn't do such a thing. As a private lender in a free market, you would know that it would be a bad loan, unlikely to be repayed.

[ChronicMA]

As a lender, why would I loan tuition money to someone enrolled in “gender studies”, “negro studies”, or any other “studies” program?

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they lend because there are protections for lenders (such as debtors can’t clear their debt through bankruptcy).

What they should do is return student loan debt to the status of a normal unsecured debt (like credit card debt) for any future loans. But the government should be prohibited from being a lender, all lenders should be in the private sector, and those private sector lenders will have to absorb the loss of any defaults. If we can create a market where only credit worthy borrowers will receive loans, than lenders are unlikely to give loans for nonsense-type fields of study.