The problem with most people that get student loans is that they are mutts. From the very beginning the mutts have no plan to repay the loan, get ahead in life, and go cash only in everything they do. Let alone getting loans for only what they need, most of these losers in debt spent a grip of their loans on lifestyle enhancements cause they're idiots. I know a guy, he's a drug dealer, and he sent his wife to a major accredited University medical school. They paid for most of her tuition in cash but got some loans as well. They promptly paid back the loans when she graduated, she's now a doctor and they have no debt. Point is it's all about how you play the game. Loans are tools or they make you a tool.