Judging from this statement, my guess is your degree is not in economics...
The 2008 crash and its aftermath royally fucked up the finances of millions of people. Many in their 40s, 50s and beyond have only recently dug themselves out of that hole, and those are the lucky ones. Students borrowed money in good faith, had financial difficulties and saw loan balances double, triple and beyond. Others were misled or outright defrauded.
I watched many of my friends in their late 20's and early 30's have their 600k homes and 400k condos drop to 300k and 175k. So many people walked away from their homes. Those with rich parents had houses bought for cheap and took over the loan 7 years later. It was a really tough time for a lot of people.
It was the total opposite for me. We bought our first home in 2010 for under 300k and Obama have us $8,000 for doing it. Now, prices are back up to pre 2008 prices and the house I owe 200k on in a 15 year loan @ 2.5% is going for slightly over 600k, pretty easily. My mortgage (all included) is under $1900 per month, while the guy down the street is renting the same house with half the yard for $3000. These are 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1350 sqft homes btw, lol.
As for student loans, we paid my wife's off with covid stimulus money.