Student loans can be worthwhile if used to get a Bachelor's degree in a high-paying field like engineering. Ideally, the student will put in two years in a community college and then use student loans to finish their two years of upper-division work at a university.
Financing four or five years of college to study something useless like humanities or literature is a great way to destroy one's future. The only ones profiting by the college-lending swindle are the universities and the hordes of new administrative personnel they've brought in - there are a lot of university bureaucrats making six-figure salaries on the backs of student debt.
“Student loans can be worthwhile if used to get a Bachelor’s degree in a high-paying field like engineering.”
US employers generally prefer foreign engineers under H-1B visas.
Engineers generally have to live in high-priced areas.
The only degrees worth paying much for are those required by government - say for nurses, doctors, public school teachers, lawyers, etc.
Only for those occupations is debt above $5,000/year justified.