Credit cards are issued at 10%-30% interest rates. This is the norm for unsecured debt; to get a decent rate a debt must usually be backed by something. Mortgages have the lowest rates seen with consumer debt because even in foreclosure, the house can (in normal economic conditions) be sold to repay the debt in full.

Student loans can't be made at reasonable interest rates without either a strong guarantee of repayment or a taxpayer subsidy for the risk. The current system has a bit of both.

Yes, but at the credit level of a student getting $50,000 in loans, a credit card company would give a $1,000 limited cards

If you don't give students tens of thousands of dollars in credit, schools can't charge tens of thousands of dollars per year. Prices rise to capture available revenue.

At what APR though? 30-40% for someone with no credit history? And how much? Maybe $1K on a prepaid card at first.

They hedge the risk by charging a lot more. Do you want student loans at 30-40% APR?

Between 15-28%, although legislation is currently being sponsored to cap credit card interest rates at 15%.

I want student loans eliminated and universities to be government funded through taxpayer dollars, as was the case previously with public universities. Public university tuition has gone up because government funding for them have gone down. As usual, stealing from the future.

EDIT: I'm okay with raising taxes to pay for education instead of the broken student loan system, forcing universities to limit what they charge, and democratic socialism as a whole. Societal utilities (healthcare, education) are not a free market. Never have been, never will be.

Sure, but then it means you have to forcefully decide how much universities can charge for their services. And you will have to raise taxes to fund free education.

I'm not a fan of socialism. I think people and organizations should be free to decide how much their services cost.

And btw, that 15% cap will result in one thing: poor people not being able to get credit.