People seem to make so many assumptions about students, like they're all well-supported by their parents and don't have any tragedies in life and just waste their time partying.
Just as an anecdote to explain how easy it is to accumulate debt in the right (read: wrong) circumstances.
My parents were too low-income to support me in my studies. I was 1 out of 10 students who is mantelzorger (caretaker), and needed to carry both emotional, practical and financial burdens. One of my parents also became life-threateningly ill during my studies. I am also 1 out of 10 students who are the victim of assault, which deeply impacted my mental well-being, and I was not able to finish a crucial course to pass to the next year. I needed to wait an entire year for that course to become available again. That's an entire year of debt, and I filled that time with taking an extra minor, because that tuition money needs to be worth something. Then, most students who had to start or complete their degree during the pandemic will know how awful it is to study in lockdown. I couldn't complete fieldwork in time. Such things impact study delays and the ability to work a lot next to your studies.
I did actually work an average of 16 hours a week next to my full-time studies and my caretaking duties during semester and 32 hours a week during the summer. After the assault happened, I couldn't do that anymore. I can't stress enough how perpetually drained I was, but all for good cause. I invested my savings for example going on Global Exchange, which I knew would increase my hireability after my studies.
If I finished studying in the old system, I would've been ~20k less in debt, not changing anything about how long it took for me to complete my studies. That 20k debt minimum alone can be explained by political decisions that altered the playing field. The accumulation of debt is skewed to impact students who live independently vs at home unfairly, and students who are self-financed vs receive parental support unfairly. We punish our students for not having it easy.