U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is rightly concerned about the increasing burden of student loan indebtedness, the balances of which now exceed those of credit card loans and auto loans, and continue to grow. But Warren’s proposed legislation, which failed to pass the Senate last month and would have allowed millions with existing federal student loans to refinance at lower rates, would have solved only a small part of the problem.

No doubt, interest rates on student loans should be examined. In Massachusetts, two-thirds of 2012 graduates graduated with debt. Around the country, millions of students struggle to pay off their loans. In the first quarter of 2014, nearly 7 million federal loan recipients defaulted on their loan payments, with an average of $14,000 in default per borrower. That’s not just bad for students’ credit ratings, but for their future economic stability.

There are more fundamental questions we need to be asking about the principal of such loans, and not just the interest rates, including: What’s the role of the federal government in making student loans? Does the government have the same skill in making and servicing loans as the average bank?

For students: Are we emphasizing personal responsibility, as would be required with a private-sector loan?

For college administrators: Is there a relationship between increasing indebtedness and increasing tuition?

As the president of a private college where we have made affordability a component of our mission, I see a student loan system spiraling out of control – as well as some obvious solutions:

First, student borrowers should only receive loans for the typical period of time required to complete a program. Undergraduate students earning a bachelor’s degree should not be able to borrow for six years of college, when the normal course of programs is four years.

Second, students who don’t earn any credits while taking out their first loans shouldn’t be eligible for more loan money. Under the current system, students can go from school to school without accumulating any credits, aggregating loans up to nearly $60,000.

Third, the growing population of higher education students who are working adult learners in fully online programs must have their loans limited to the cost of tuition. Currently, millions of online students, 80 percent of whom are employed, receive student loans that fund their housing and meals, despite the fact that these expenses aren’t part of the online college experience. Under current regulation, colleges have no ability to disallow these expenses for loan purposes.

We need a fairer, simpler system that everyone understands and that doesn’t require massive bureaucracies in Washington or in the financial aid offices of our colleges to administer. Borrowing needs to be capped at reduced levels and successive loans should be contingent on certification from an accredited college that the student has made the appropriate yearly progress toward a degree.

The benefits of a stronger cap on federal borrowing are plenty: We’ll see more creative private sector options come forward for college funding. More colleges will offer direct financing options for their students. And colleges will finally feel the pressure to reduce their own costs in order to reduce tuition – a relationship that has eluded federal regulators in their quest to make college more affordable. State funding for public higher education, which has been declining in the last decade, will become more of a priority.

The federal government has an important role in securing higher education access for our citizens, but it must be a supporting and limited role. Otherwise, we can’t break the vicious cycle of more loans, higher student loan debt and higher tuition. Higher education should be the responsibility of our students, their families, our higher education institutions and our states. Once that happens, Graduation Day can once again mean excitement about the future, rather than dread about potential bills gone unpaid. 

Howard Horton is the president of New England College of Business, an institution of online higher education designed for working adults seeking career advancement.