Is 30K on avg of student debt really a national problem? A lot of new cars fall into that range. Yet nobody is running around claiming cars are un-affordable and their owners are saddled with debt. 30K for a lifetime of much higher earnings seems like a pretty good value to me.
Interesting argument.
People spend 30k on student loans because the end-game is to use the education to get a high-paying job, which you then use to pay off the student loans and move on with your life.
People spend 30k on a car when they have the money to afford a 30k car, either through already being a professional/trades-person, or as a result of the education they received.
In one scenario you use money you have from the job you already have to buy a nice car (outright reality, if you are not well-employed and you are buying a 30k car, with very little exception, you are likely making a poor fiscal decision).
In the other scenario you're getting a large loan from the government with the sole purpose of making you employable, so it is a delayed benefit. Unfortunately, a good chunk of the current loans appear to be money-grab scams with government backed loans. The number of useless degrees which do not result in the expected employment of higher education are likely the bigger issue impacting individuals, and seem to be prominent in the discussion talking-points, yet for some reason is used more as supplementary.
While I personally think the responsibility for these types of situations is about 50/50 personal responsibility and lacking (or, perhaps just stagnating) government oversight - no matter how you choose to look at it, the reality is we are allowing many for-profit organizations such as banks and for-profit schools to abuse the loan process without being responsible for the useless degree and debt they saddle their uneducated (ironic) students with.
Honestly, if you figure out a way to tackle the abuse of nonsense degrees in higher education, the entire mess might just sort itself out - but in true American fashion we've allowed corporate greed to exploit it for so long it's gotten obscene too quickly. Reality is the players in this scenario know that it's a bubble so they're just trying to monetize as much as possible before it bursts - saying otherwise without good reasons and/or evidence to back up a claim suggests your character and/or motivations might be dubious at best, if not outright malicious.
Disclaimer: Yes, I am aware of and will not be tackling the more broad economic aspects of the student loan conundrum. Reality is there are corrective actions which can be applied, but our political system is simply too bought and paid for currently for them to actually be implemented until it's reactive instead of proactive. Sadly, our lumbering and wasteful government system cannot keep up with technology or the times so reactive is the best we can generally hope to accomplish.
Bring on Bernie!
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