I think there is a balance to emphasize the psychological and physical impact that debt can have to individuals and incentives individuals need to make smarter

I think there is a balance to emphasize the psychological and physical impact that debt can have to individuals and incentives individuals need to make smarter decision (debt is an incentive, not forced on ppl 99% of the time). If folks know that they will be indebted after university, they have more reason to study something that will allow them to pay it off or that it is at least partially paid by grants/etc. Long-term thinking may mean less burden in society by making the incentives based on debt I also think people forget that the US is a superpower in part because of the brain power it has, that brain power in part comes from the folks coming out of university. When you look at Uni's top 100 rank, 58% is American & 22% is European. Although this might be a simple correlation vs. causation scenario, I think it is worth accounting for in conjunction with a variety of variables. I still agree that the tuition $ in the US is exorbitant and that governments need to teach people the values, risks, etc of going to university just like I think everyone should have at least 1 personal finance class in high school, it would help a lot of people. P.S. I am not American