[Alberta's Child]

One big difference here is that a student loan is just a loan. At the height of the mortgage bubble we had overpriced homes supported by mortgages that couldn't be paid off -- and often there were multiple loans leveraged on top of an existing overpriced home. There was also the issue of collateralized debt obligations that were created from these mortgages.

If a student defaults on his/her loan, then that's about all the impact it has. Nobody ever leveraged anything out of that loan, except maybe parents who co-signed and who may now be on the hook for the cost of a worthless "education."

[Son House]

The (non)Affordable Health Care bill made sure the tax payers would be on the hook for the student loan debt.