The question is "what's the consumer -- and thus larger macroeconomic -- impact?" The impact is that if you "bought" your education at the "high time," you lost

The question is "what's the consumer -- and thus larger macroeconomic -- impact?" The impact is that if you "bought" your education at the "high time," you lost nothing. What were you supposed to do? Wait until the bubble burst and hope to "cash in" on a cheaper education? Student loans are so cheap that the marginal impact of such a burst really only stands to impact greater lifetime earning potential of two distinct groups of the population: pre-poppers and post. While that's unfortunate for the pre's, it's hardly comparable to the economic divide that has grown between the educated and uneducated classes.