How is it similar? Businesses that employ people and generate tax revenue vs someone with a gender studies degree that will never add value to anything or anyone but the institution that charged them $150k for the degree.
Are you comparing loans given to businesses to stay afloat during a government mandated shutdown of an unprecedented scale where those businesses were forbidden by the government to do business, to the free will of students taking a loan understanding very well the consequences of their decision?
Much of the PPP loans taken were fraudulent, wasteful, unnecessary and inflationary. Businesses who had no need for them took them and had their best quarters and year. The market sloshed around and shot up with all this 'free' money.
We're willing to spend all this money unnecessarily on businesses but when it comes to supporting students all of a sudden - its too much and we have to draw the line!
I'd much rather see individuals paid directly than go through businesses and hope they are benevolent enough to use it on their employees.