reasonandempathy:

“Colleges are expensive because of federal loans!”

Whenever someone talks about free college and expanding access, right-wingers clamor around some of the same old talking points, including the above. “Colleges started getting expensive at the same time that Federally backed loans started” is, in fact, a true statement. You’ve likely seen some variant of these:

But they don’t tell you that before those loans existed public colleges used to be directly funded by federal, state, and local governments. You might have been charged administrative or book fees, but they were nominal at best and dirt-cheap, even by both their standards and ours.

The California Public Universities (the model of schooling for the country and still the largest public university system) were effectively free from 1868 until 1966 when (take a guess) Ronald Raegan became governor and had the UC President fired because he and Hoover thought the colleges were pumping our evil socialists and dissidents.

Right-wing reactionary bigotry and fear-mongering didn’t just strike once, though. CUNY schools such as Baruch were free dating back to 1847 For some reason though, once they were fully integrated in 1976 and black people/Latinos suddenly there was an appetite for cutting funding

So, yes, people started utilizing federal loans to pay for college starting in the 60s and 70s because for the first time in a hundred years these public institutions actually cost money. If you look closely you can see exactly when tuitions started to rise and federal loans started to be used: the bump came after public schools stopped being free and started being expensive. And it isn’t just these two.

(Source)

“But that’s just public schools, private schools weren’t funded by the government”

1. Yes, they were and they still are today. When their funding was cut they too had to raise tuitions to compensate.
2. I don’t think I should have to explain how “we don’t have to compete with Free anymore” would lead to a price increase in a for-profit institution.

Additional Reading:

State Higher Education Funding Cuts Have Pushed Costs to Students, Worsened Inequality

Whatever Happened To When College Was Free

Yes, States Are Absolutely Cutting Funds For Public Colleges

Most Americans don’t realize state funding for higher ed fell by billions