No loan at all would be ideal obviously, but there are situations where paying it back in a fairly short timeframe isn't too bad, and other situations where the debt is crushing. Part of the issue is that the cost of college and the value of college are not in alignment at all in a couple different ways. First, all the different degrees from within a particular institution generally have the same price tag in spite of them not being anywhere near the same value (companies hire engineers, not art history majors). Second, the same degree from two different institutions can have a radically different price tag and yet have no value distinction (example, if you hire a lawyer, would you ask where he got his degree, or would you ask how many cases like yours he's won? realistically, WHERE he got his degree will never enter the conversation because it's irrelevant).
Universities are not educating kids on what degrees have marketplace value and which ones don't or the value/cost distinction which leads to uninformed masses taking out bigger and bigger loans as the universities continue to raise prices faster than the rate of inflation all the while convincing students any price they pay will be "worth it" even if they need to take out a loan. Then when reality sets in, the students get mad, and on some level I get that, I still don't want to pay for their bad decision though, we're all responsible to educate ourselves on investments we make. I'm thankful the supreme court has blocked Biden's attempt to play king on this issue, at least for now.
