The loans are part of the reason college is so expensive in the first place. It's a jacked up system. It needs to stop. The government should not be in the business of student loans. If private banks want to make these loans fine, just deal with it when they default, no bailouts!!!
Bingo. It's a spiral of affordability
"Everyone should be able to afford to go to college" -> everyone gets loans -> college prices increase with the expansion of credit -> middle class get priced out of college without huge loans.
We're right back to where we started but now with 100k debt. The problem is once a credit bubble is inflated, it is difficult to disinflate without real pain: if government loans disappeared tomorrow, 3/4 of students wouldn't be able to afford attending. Of course over time prices would fall, universities would make necessary cuts to administrative bloat, etc. But the suffering in the near term would be real. This is why a little responsibility up front to prevent these problems from forming is vital.
I agree about the self inflicted, however a big part of the problem is that they are able to get loans for this in the first place.