Its hard to say without knowing what you mean by 'a long time' or the amount of debt that you would be taking on.

My perspective based on my own student loan debt (which is at a point where I could easy pay it off this year):

• I look at my debt as a deficit applied against my income. I've had it budgeted and a solid idea for approximately when it'd be paid off as soon as I got a job.

• I haven't made decisions with the assumption of something like loan forgiveness being a thing. I still make a financial decision with that based on probability (like I'm not paying my loan while its not accruing interest and not paying in excess of the minimum payment while there's a realistic chance Biden might implement some degree of forgiveness). This way if any sort of loan forgiveness does come my way its more of a bonus and nice thing to have rather than have it be something I feel I need.

I still feel its too early for me to speak as to whether I think Michigan itself made a difference in my career compared to other universities. I can say I don't regret attending, though.