It is not the federal government but the _states_ that are responsible for the massive increase in student loan debt. They have historically had agreements with universities to cap tuition hikes in exchange for funding. In the past few decades, they passed bone-headed “Balanced Budget” amendments to their constitutions which force them to make drastic cuts to education whenever there’s a recession or the majority party decides tax cuts have more value than the working class getting an affordable college degree. The first round of cuts were passed with tuition hike cap repeals.