FWIW, most of my friends in undergrad would openly flaunt the way they were spending their student loan money (weed, video games, new spoiler for their car, etc

FWIW, most of my friends in undergrad would openly flaunt the way they were spending their student loan money (weed, video games, new spoiler for their car, etc.). This was not the exception, as far as I could tell. So the age thing goes both ways - 17 year olds are too young to make smart financial decisions, both about whether to get a loan, and how to spend it.