I don't think so either, I just don't think its an excuse to say colleges and universities (especially since they are all federally funded) can practice extremely predatory financing expecting a kids parents to know better for them.
I agree you should not alter open agreements, but those agreements are already biased by federal dollars in the form of guaranteed stafford loans. We need to get rid of federal loan and grant guarantees that are not merit based limited funding that happens after acceptance (so that schools can't focus target anyone getting a federal scholarship).
I would get rid of GSLs. I would go further, too, and make the current financing process illegal.
Imagine if you went to the local car dealer and he told you "Every car on the lot is $200k. But give me a detailed listing of your assets and income and I'll adjust the price such that you can barely afford to buy one if you take out as much financing as possible."
That kind of price discrimination is illegal for your local car dealer, but it's exactly what happens when your kid goes off to college. Not only that, colleges collude so that you can't play one college off against another.
Of course what they say is they're just making sure they have a "diverse" student body by cutting the less well off students a deal. But the net effect is the college takes in the maximum amount of money in tuition.
It's the biggest driver of ever-rising tuition, and were I in Congress I'd go on the freakin' warpath against this industry.
I agree you should not alter open agreements, but those agreements are already biased by federal dollars in the form of guaranteed stafford loans. We need to get rid of federal loan and grant guarantees that are not merit based limited funding that happens after acceptance (so that schools can't focus target anyone getting a federal scholarship).