I only learned about the student loans for private high schools a few years ago. I think the doc said tuition was around $600/mo which would be "cheap" for private school where i live and, probably, a stretch for many of these families. The "difference" would be the debt would be the parents and not taken on by under-age kids.

Have you visited any of the the elite schools? Toured Stanford with my kid. They'll provide up $50K start-up money to students with a developed business plan. They also allocate $5K/yr travel and living expenses for accepted middle & lower income students. Regrettably, my kid didn't get in. We're middle class and it is absolutely a golden ticket.

The "point" is that there are about 70 universities in the US which guarantee to meet 100% of financial need without loans. "Need" includes tuition, books, housing, food, and some living expenses (travel, clothes, etc). You asserted the universities took their tuition and it didn't matter to them if the students were successful or not; that's not how elite universities work if you're middle or lower income. Source: my kid attended & graduated from an elite university and we paid $zero.