> How can you even compare a luxury item to getting an education?

A car can be a necessity, in that case a Tesla is a luxury. An education is not a necessity in any case, but for the sake of argument lest pretend that it was, a that you would die a quick death if you did not at minimum have a degree in something. Then choosing the cheapest available option would the the necessity and choosing to take variable rate high interest loan in order to stay "with your friends and the teacher you know" is a luxury.

Then with a huge pile of debt, and a finished degree, to decide to pursue graduate school abroad instead of getting a job and dealing with your debt is an insane luxury.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that anyone who takes an education is buying themselves a luxury, but in a market with varying costs and opportunities, if you decide on your own to go out and put yourself in huge debt to study above your means, then you are choosing a luxury. And saying things like "but community college sucks/My kids can't be successful without expensive private schools/etc." Does not suddenly make it societies responsibility to magically make it possible for you to live above your means.

> And as far as I remember, the big bad industry was saved after the crash...

Yes, the government went in and invested in the industry when it was at the lowest and no one else had available capital to invest. Those investments are paying off today(https://projects.propublica.org/bailout/), and the industry is at a better place, where among other tings it can provide loans to students who would otherwise not be able to pay for their education. What is your point? Should they start printing free money to students like this who can't manage their finances, gets whiny when it comes time to pay back the money they loaned?

While I generally agree with your comments, I still think it's absurd to have such high interest rates. What's really ironic is that the bailouts were payed with taxpayer money - they shouldn't be printing money but taxpayers should reap the benefits of the investment - directly, not "supposedly" just because the state earned it. I'm not an Is citizen, but I feel the US is much more person-centric than Europe thus the responsibility is on the individual. In Europe we expect certain things from the state, namely not to turn education and health into a private business.

> Besides students are in a disadvantaged position when they really want to get educated. They have no bargaining power.

I would agree if the only way to get educated was a private university. As it turns out, that's not the case. For starters, state universities are about 90% cheaper per credit hour as compared to their private competitors.