College is very expensive in the US, with the average “in-state” school costing $26K/yr for someone who lives on campus and $56K/yr for a private institution. Since a majority of undergraduates are teenagers with virtually no savings, they take on loans to pay for college. Also unlike traditional loans where you can declare bankruptcy, these loans are very difficult to get forgiven.

There obviously a lot more to it, but that’s the gist in three sentences.

It's a way to force an 18 year old into a life of indentured servitude under the guise of "financial assistance" by simply clicking accept on a couple online forms, only for 40% of them to end up working jobs that don't require a college degree in the first place.

So back in the mid 1900's in the USA tuition cost a fairly reasonable amount (about 8-10 percent of a minimum wage income could be budgeted for school, depending on which one you went to) but from 1970-2020 we saw an explosion of college tuition that didn't match inflation/CoL/income.

So now in order to budget for a public state school you need to allot about 40% of your minimum wage income for tuition. OR you can sell your life to the military and potentially die that way (if you're even medically able and willing) in addition to the previously mentioned "go into debt until you're 60" method that we currently use.

Somehow, while costs have been skyrocketing the quality of schooling has been going downhill for awhile now as funding gets reallocated to the things that make the most money which is just sports essentially (also why it's so damn expensive.)

It's a loan made of public money that universities seem to think is an open faucet and upcharge a ridiculous amount for tuition.

the average US public university is about $11,700 for tuition. that doesn't count room and board if you are staying in a dorm in campus. private universities are much more.