I think you have hit the nail on the head.
I would add another thing here.
You go off to some private college like Occidental in CA, and pay $100k over two years of college for tuition, room, board and books.
Then you go off to some private college like Columbia University for two years and pay $130k over two years for tuition, room, board, and books.
You skip around for five years and discover a passion for law, and enroll at Harvard Law School for two years ($130k for tuition, room, board, and books).
You end up as a part-time college instructor, a community organizer, state representative and US Senator. Most of those never pay nothing much.
So by age 40, if you were a normal American....you’d owe $350k...more or less....to some college loan....if you were a normal American. You’d never be able to pay that back....if you were a normal American. But then....some folks just aren’t that normal, and don’t have a student loan issue.