Keep in mind, most people do this when they are 17. Think back to when you were 17 - were you capable of long-range financial planning? Did you understand the impact of compound interest? Did you research all the possible job markets, and were you able to forecast what would happen for the next 20-30 years (because that’s how long most people take to attempt to pay off the debt). When I went to college, the Internet hadn’t been invented yet and we had 2 guidance counselors for 600 students, plus I was the first person to go to college in my family. How was I supposed to get this information and predict what would happen in the job markets for decades to come? This is ridiculous and ungrounded advice, just stop shaming people for something they couldn’t have done. Direct that shame towards a job market which told my generation that if you didn’t have a degree, you would spend the rest of your life working on an assembly line in a factory. Direct your anger towards universities with huge campuses to maintain, massive pay scale for administrators, subsidized sports teams and research facilities that my debt paid for - none of which benefitted me in the least.