It's not a full up-front cost risk to students. Federal loans (90% of disbursements) qualify for income based repayment where the maximum you will pay is 10% of income above 1.5x the Federal poverty limit. If you end up stuck as a barista making $25k a year, you'll pay back very little of the overall cost over the 20 year repayment.

Also if you get through a few semesters at an accredited university and decide you hate it those credits will generally transfer somewhere else. The same is not true of unaccredited programs.

Student loans dramatically improved my credit rating.

Or... interest?