Your response is an oversimplification of my point. The amount of other non-mortgage consumer debt (credit cards and auto loans, especially) create a much more dire situation for those who hold them than student loan debt creates.

Credit cards and auto loans have many characteristics that are either mitigated or outright negated by the current structure of federal student loans. Below is a non-exhaustive list.

1. They have much shorter payback times, which demand higher payments for a similar amount borrowed. “The typical term length for auto loans is 68 months, with loans of 72 and 84 months becoming increasingly common.” The “standard” student loan repayment plan is 10 years, with 20–25 year plans available.
2. They have much higher interest rates, with credit cards increasing upon lack of payment. Undergraduate federal loans are capped at 8.25%, which sounds like a lot, until you realize that we are still in an historically low interest rate environment.
3. They have very few or no alternative payment plans available, especially if you are in financial trouble. Federal student loans provide for forbearance, deferment, and Income-Driven Repayment plans.
4. The products procured by their use are almost exclusively material in nature, and thus constantly depreciating. Education (the product “bought” by student loans) is quasi-permanent (at least the accomplishment is) and normally appreciates over the course of one’s lifetime.

Now, I am using the typical scenario of someone who took out loans that, while disproportionately higher than past generations, at least resulted in graduation from college with a bachelor’s degree.

I agree that there is a serious problem with borrowers who went to a for-profit college only to get a worthless degree, dropped out of college with student loan debt, are vastly underemployed, or are stuck with private student loans.

I have both dropped out and been underemployed after graduating, and struggled to pay my student loans in both situations.

However, the reason I am able to move forward in my life with such a large debt (now $134,000) are the allowances provided by my federal student loan debt. Had that been car loans, credit cards, and a mortgage, my future would look much, much different.