P2P banking and an application to student loans

The entertainment industry was the first to experience the power of the P2P idea. Telecom may be next (http://www.fon.com). After that I believe banks will be the next victim, or the next opportunity if you are an entrepreneur. P2P banking is actually already here, check out http://www.zopa.com. Another example (which isn't really banking, but almost) is http://www.kiva.org.

One interesting application of P2P banking would be student loans. In Sweden we have an expensive government agency handling applications for student loans, determining who is worthy, making payments, etc. We also have quite a lot of unemployed university graduates. P2P student loans would solve two problems: get rid of an unnecessary government agency and guide students towards subjects that will enable them to get a job. The mechanism is simple: lenders will obviously prefer students studying marketable subjects, lowering the interest rate for those students. Students of anthropology would have to pay higher rates, since the risk of unemployment (and the lender not getting the money back) is greater. Perhaps no one would be interested in lending to them at all if the risk of unemployment is perceived as to great and the prospective student would be forced to consider another subject.
The invisible hand in action.