I think where my thoughts come from is that when I see a figure like $8,900 I am seeing the people in my life who have no idea what they're doing. Not people who have it rough from the start necessarily but also not people who have it crazy easy. Just "middle class" people who's parents where never able to save for their education. Those people also don't get grants so they either have to put off going to school or get in debt. What I see is how incredibly easy it is to get $10 000 in debt as a 20 year old. Whether that's by signing up for a program you don't actually care about just because it's what you are supposed to do or moving out with the wrong people. I remember my friend graduated from engineering debt free because he saved from when he started working in high school. I worked the same job as him, with similar hours and had nothing to show for it. Literally nothing and I'm the norm not him. I still don't understand it because it's not like he was a recluse. He had a car, he went out drinking, he built computers ( I don't think that's cheap), he just lived life generally and still managed this. I can't figure out how he did it and I don't think anybody I know could either.

When I look at most of my friends though, they took on debt to go to a program and now they can't even use it. It's really easy to just say screw it to paying it off in that situation because you don't actually gain anything obvious from doing it. They got stuck with bad roommates or were the bad roommates. It's so easy for a young person to just move in with their friends because why not ? Then they get stuck with all this money to pay when someone can't and all of a sudden it just gets out of control. Especially when now this person finally finished school and wants to get on with their life. Maybe they met somebody and they want to have kids so they think screw all that debt it doesn't really matter. It was money they had to spend year ago for one stupid roommate which they put behind them. People don't want to put off their lives to pay off the debt so they just don't pay it.

In fairness, this is an article about students in America so my experience is likely less realistic and I should have known that going in. There are tons of grants for students for low income families in Ontario and our federal government introduced plans to make it so that until a person is making $25 000/year they don't have to make a payment. Interest won't accumulate over that time either ( well it does but the government pays it ).

I am the poor person spending money on entertainment and booze. :) I don't even blame the people who find themselves in this situation, most of them where my friends who where just doing what they thought they were supposed to do and now years down the road are pissed off about having to pay this money back.

Edit: I'm also pretty sure he didn't deal drugs before anybody says that.