<p>"The federal government made enough money on student loans over the last year that, if it wanted, it could provide maximum-level Pell Grants of $5,645 to 7.3 million college students.</p>
<p>The $41.3-billion profit for the 2013 fiscal year is down $3.6 billion from the previous year but still enough to pay for one year of tuition at the University of Michigan for 2,955,426 Michigan residents."</p>
<p>You didn’t even bother to read the article. </p>
<p>These loans do not produce anything close to a net profit and are a massive subsidy to colleges.</p>
<p>The fact that people think even for a second that unsecured consumer debt at ~3.5% is profitable with ~12% DLQ rates just shows how badly people need basic finance classes.</p>
<p>The “profit” is really taxes that are used to redistribute tuition dollars to other citizens. The rich are full-pay. The middle-class takes on debt - the “profit” from the government loans is spent in accordance with the dictates of politicians who distribute the money to other citizens.</p>