Is this for undergrad? The debt you take on is not THAT much for undergrad, any decent job and some good spending habits will have you debt free in 10 years. It might be different for a particularly expensive private school which you paid sticker for, but how can you blame the government for your choice to go to that overpriced school? I did my undergrad degree at arguably the best public university in the country and didn't have any problem covering costs without taking private loans.

For grad school there is no max for the loans you can take out. Theoretically you should be able to pay off that debt because of the better job you get with your JD/MD, but that's not the case for everyone.

I'm probably about 150k in debt at this point (finishing up JD) but I'm not too worried. Worst case scenario I land some shitty job with a lowish income and have to use income based repayment until I have a better job. An education is one of the best investments you can make, regardless of the horror stories of people with advanced degrees working at Starbucks. Most people see benefits that far outweigh the costs of education when you look at lifetime earnings. People who inflate the problem do not look at earning for longer periods of time after gradation, they present anecdotes of people who graduate from a good school and can't find a job. A degree doesn't just magically deliver a job into your outstretched hands. You still need work experience, references, good work ethic, a compatible personality, and good interview skills. On top of all that, it's helpful if you didn't graduate by the skin of your teeth. I'm sure some of the people struggling are deficient in many of these categories.

I'm not saying there isn't a problem, universities are way too expensive because they choose to spend their money on research that tends to not go anywhere, as well as on fancy new buildings and other silly things. Also there is a black hole of bureaucracy and inefficiency behind each university, as well as dwindling public funding to support their extravagant projects. I'm just saying the problem isn't as big as some people make it out to be. The fact that some people are not successful after getting a degree is shitty but doesn't mean there is a problem with the private/public loan industry. The problem lies with lack of funding for public colleges, overspending by colleges, and poor choices by students.