<p>skrlvr, I’ve also wondered about how one really shows that federal grants and low interest loans lead to higher college costs. Maximum Pell Grant is $5500 a year. Maximum subsidized low-interest Stafford loans range from IIRC $3500-$5500 a year. Let’s toss on another $5k a year from work-study and summer work, giving our low income student a grand total of $16k a year. That stretches a long way for students commuting from home to their local community college or in-state public, but it doesn’t come anywhere near the $55k+ cost of the most expensive privates. </p>
<p>The big problem with student debt is when students take out large private loans. Those dollars are overwhelmingly used at private for-profit schools.</p>
<p>Dunno if using tuition at private high schools is a fair test for looking for a link between cheap money and rising tuition, because until very recently loans haven’t been a big component of financing K-12 education. Unless you stretch the definition and consider people taking out bigger mortgages so they can afford to live in more desireable school districts.</p>