It's also deceptive to downplay the situation by only looking at the debt in students' names. Many parents take out loans on behalf of their children. E.g. Parent Plus Loans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLUS_Loan
Well over half of my student loan balance is in parent loans. I pay my parents monthly to pay for the loan payment. My younger two siblings are oblivious to what kind of debt they have. Now, my parents are a few years away from retirement--at least they hope--and they will be burdened with paying my siblings student loan debt on a fixed income.
