Debt of that magnitude is essentially abstract.
No it's not, I have almost double that amount of debt (mortgage), there is nothing abstract about it. In fact, there are many calculators out there to help you understand the debt, along with your estimated/expected take home pay, allowing you to understand what fraction of your take home pay will go towards your debt. This is not neural biology, this is easy math... at least easier math than the level we expect kids to be able to preform at in order to graduate high school. 8th graders are learning and preforming these kinds of calculations, there is no reason at all not to expect a 17 year old not to be able to also do the math.
And I think you're giving teenagers too much credit.
You're not giving them enough credit. I agree with you in the viewpoint that they are kids, but just because they are kids doesn't make them incapable of handling certain responsibilities.
I'll be fair here, it's a big decision, but it's not one that is made all at the age of 17. Every year a student has the option to continue with school (or simply continue with "their" school, as opposed to changing universities, or changing majors), so really, a 17 year old is only making a decision for one year (or in this case about $12,500 debt).
Maybe we're both partially right. As I read through this thread, I see a lot of people on both of our sides, and the dividing line seems to really be people like me, who did pick majors based off of expected income, who worked all throughout college, who didn't spend money on beer, eating out, and trying to impress the opposite sex. I knew that I would graduate with debt, and so I did everything that I could to keep that debt minimized (it was about $14,000 when I graduated). Then you have other people that followed some not so good advice, that job passion was all that mattered, and not to focus on the money. That they needed to get "the college experience". They wanted to party, they wanted to go out to eat, they wanted to have sex, and enjoy the same kind of life that those kids on Friends, or The Big Bang Theory enjoy. You're essentially claiming that these kids possibly didn't receive the same guidance as kids like me, who were sternly warned about college debt.
A lot of kids in my boat feel that the kids who "were blind-sided" and "surprised" by the college debt signed the papers to accept the debt, and that they did in fact know about it, but they ignored it. We feel that they are trying to make excuses for their own failure to plan. The debtors feel that they were "duped" into believing that the debt wouldn't matter, and may not have had a stern of warnings from their guardians about the debt. This is difficult for the people like me to understand and relate too, because to us, it seems obvious that you shouldn't sign your name to a paper without knowing/understanding what you are signing. Further, if we were mature enough to make these decisions, why shouldn't we expect other 17 year olds to also be mature enough to make these decisions.
I have to think about this. On a semi-related note, I am having trouble accepting the concept that we have people who don't trust 17/18 year olds to make rational financial decisions, but do trust them to make rational political decisions. To me, being good with money is a prerequisite to being good with politics... that's just my opinion though, not trying to shove it in anyone's face, just felt like putting it out there.