College degrees are assets. Or at least they are sufficiently asset-like that many people are willing to borrow large amounts of money to obtain them. Degrees unlock valuable parts of the labor market and yield returns in the form of additional compensation that can be used to make loan payments.
Degrees are, like homes, critical milestones on the standard path to prosperity. Because people tend to get their first degrees and homes earlier in adult life, when they have fewer financial assets and less established credit, it makes sense for the government to subsidize the loans used to acquire them.
