From zero in 1993 to $1.728 trillion in 2021: this is the predatory financialization of higher education which has enriched lenders, Wall Street and the Higher Education Cartel
America Is a Moral Cesspool, and Student Loans Prove It — https://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2021/07/america-is-moral-cesspool-and-student.html
Way back in the Dark Ages I borrowed a total of $8000.00 and worked summers and during the school years to pay for my college education. It took me ten years of payments at $69.72 a month to pay the loan off. I promised myself no matter the hardship my own children would not borrow money for their undergraduate degrees (medical school different story). There were reasons why I drove a 2006 Ford Taurus for 15 effing years.
One of the joys of aging is you get to a point where you say what you want to say and the hell with everyone else. Charles Hugh Smith is one of us who possess critical thinking skills and will always tell it like it is. Check out his blog.
And this is a perfect time to remind all of my readers that the opinions expressed in this and my other blog are mine alone and do not represent the views of any corporate entity that I may or may not be involved with either in the present or past.
I should play more and work less. https://garyskitchen.net/2021/07/24/stress-reduction/ I’m starting to become more cynical than usual.
lifeunderwriter.net 
I didn’t realize that about current student loans that they are structured so differently nowadays. I had parents like you who financed my college education, along with my working summers and part-time while in college. Then for medical school, I chose a state university where the tuition would be more reasonable, and received a New York State Regents Scholarship. I borrowed the money for living expenses, books, fees, etc. My parents did buy me a car. And I graduated with a debt similar to yours which also took me about 10 years to pay back at a rate of under $100 a month. I don’t know how doctors can start out their career with nearly $1 million of debt. No wonder so many are choosing the surgical subspecialties that pay much higher salaries.
I have been an observer of the student loan debt slow motion train wreck for many years. Like many other “crises” we created the mess we’re in. I feel badly for the younger generations who never truly understood they were being scammed into a life of indentured servitude to the banks. To your comment on doctors leaning towards higher paying specialties, I agree. This puts a different spin o the shortage of primary care docs, doesn’t it?