Allowing them to be discharged in bankruptcy leads to more borrowing, especially when the loan is backed by the government. (Banks willing to lend more with the gov guarantee.) If colleges faced a shrinking market due to available education funds, tuition and fees wouldn't keep going up. Why does it cost $60,000 a year in tuition, fees, room and board at most private institutions? Because that's what the consumer will/can pay with the system we're stuck in.
Yes, husband and I both had student loans and hated sending that check out every month. But it was our debt so we payed it. We live in a smaller house because of that debt, but as we get a little older, and the loans are payed off, we're also glad our home will be payed off in three years.
And then child number 1 will go off to college, but I'm not giving them a blank check. They need some skin in the game they are responsible for.
Kid 2 is already (in jr high) thinking about job first, learn a skill, college pay-as-you-go.
That seems reasonable. BTW, do you think me and my parents necessarily made a huge mistake in relying on scholarships and then using family savings to pay for about 4700 dolalrs a year for the rest of college costs? Do you think that could be ok in some cases? I admit that when i was graduating high school in numerous ways I was sort of going along with some of the things my parents wanted to do (for a multitude of reasons) and getting a full time job and learning a skill before going to college, and using money from that job to help pay for college, never actually crossed any of our minds, mine or my parents. Another factor is that my parents had extremely different views on college than many posters here, including the idea that going to college right after high school was sort of an absolute necessity that had to be dcne.