The objectives of student loan programs and the consequences of specific programmatic determinations are considered. In addition to the primary function of providing access to capital markets for the financing of human capital investment, the student loan system in the United States has been utilized as: (1) a mechanism to subsidize schooling costs; (2) a means to induce particular schooling and occupational decisions; (3) a device by which to reduce tuition differentials; and (4) a quasi-beneficiary tax for the financing of higher education. The following dimensions of programmatic choice in structuring a student loan system are examined: legal treatment of the student's obligation, institutional structure and administrative arrangements, source of capitalization, locus of risk-bearing, terms of the student's obligation and of the lender's asset, degree of subsidization, and rationing criteria and other individual/institutional constraints. The issue of governmental versus private capitalization is addressed, and a distinction is made between capital and interest rate/return financial risks. In addition, interest rate and accrual provisions, amortization provisions, and default provisions are discussed. (SW)