[somehnguy]

Are you under the false impression that the majority of people taking loans for college only utilize government provided ones? I don't believe that to be true, everyone I know (including myself) had to utilize private providers such as Navient (SallieMae) or others to cover college tuition. That is where the insane interest rates come from and aren't reflected in your data of 3-5% rates.

Them being 'private' loans is a bit misleading as well, as they are technically backed by the government, as far as even bankruptcy will not remove them. Navient is just the servicer & middleman to collect the profits. It's more complicated than this of course but that seems to be the gist of it.