[hurryskurry]

The average debt is substantial if you consider over 30k substantial.

Professional students obviously will have substantially more. But most professional school loans are private and not federal as there is a cap.

Also I believe your argument along the lines of you don't have it as bad as your grandfather did therefore you aren't poor is a fallacy.

[partiallypro]

I never said your grandfather (though I did use my grand parents as an anecdote to point how far society has come)...I said, literally 10 years ago, even 20 years ago. Life is better now; and once again, most students only carry around ~$5K in student debt, the vast majority of student debt is carried by 10% of students. There is no way you can convince me that your living standards are now lower than they were in the 90s or 10 years ago; everyone is living in nostalgia for the past...people have been saying "the good ole days" forever, and yet lives continue to be improved and poor people are lifted from poverty despite this longing for the "good ole days."