Student loans used to be dischargeable in bankruptcy (I think it was George HW Bush who changed that.)
Borrowers first had to wait 5 years, then 7, for them to be eligible. The problem is it was too easy to just wait it out and then just get them discharged at age 25. Then just wait 7 more years for the credit to be repaired by age 32. And there’s no stigma to bk anymore and no collateral to seize and take back—you can’t remove the education from the borrower’s brain.
And you can’t expect the same 25 year old to be paying a mortgage payment ($300K) while working a job that pays $45K and have enough to raise a family.
Bankruptcy is a price discovery mechanism. The same was said for land purchases and homestead rules. Some did abuse it, many did not.