Originally Posted by aeh
And let's not forget the unintended consequences of increasing availability to federal student loans, and their impact on rising college tuition:
https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr733.pdf

Better mousetrap --> smarter mouse

Indeed. Just because increased access to funding meant that students could be charged more, doesn't mean they should be. That's fine for a private institution to be as nakedly capitalistic as they like, but for public institutions, they have a higher responsibility, and that was a significant moral failing on their parts.