Or, the availability of Federal student loans masked the impact of states defunding higher education. Without “EZ credit”, there may have been a more noticeable drop in enrollment, as the (L&Ses) diverted funding to their pet projects. That has been the case with car sales. The price escalation of recent years has been enabled by payment terms being extended from the traditional 36 months, to, now, about 84 months, or more.
Steve