Well, I just showed that apparently it is not a reasonably small debt load for many! Even if you halved the amount - as I said, if people struggle to get $400 for one-off emergency expense would they be able to afford $200 each month? Also we have more than doubled the time to pay off the principle, I hope everyone's got a nice low interest rate!
I get what you're trying to say - you see that people have the latest iPhones, buying expensive sneakers and sharing pics of their exotic holidays. It's easy to then look at the student loan crisis, connect the dots and think "Ah, it's all these people with their iPhones, sneakers and holidays! I however have lived frugally, more people should live like me". Everyone's circumstances are different, but I think I can guarantee that student loan debt is a problem not because graduates go on to eat avocado toast every day (or whatever people are upset about this week) but simply because to attend higher education the costs in the USA are astronomically high and generally require either incurring huge quantities of debt or the enormous good fortune of coming from wealth.
I get what you're trying to say - you see that people have the latest iPhones, buying expensive sneakers and sharing pics of their exotic holidays. It's easy to then look at the student loan crisis, connect the dots and think "Ah, it's all these people with their iPhones, sneakers and holidays! I however have lived frugally, more people should live like me". Everyone's circumstances are different, but I think I can guarantee that student loan debt is a problem not because graduates go on to eat avocado toast every day (or whatever people are upset about this week) but simply because to attend higher education the costs in the USA are astronomically high and generally require either incurring huge quantities of debt or the enormous good fortune of coming from wealth.