Strike Debt! You are not a loan.

[taught_me_patience]

43. The million dollar loan example was used as an illustration

to suggest that the total balance of the loan is unimportant if it is a productive loan and there is great power in leverage. But to specifically address your student loan debt issue:

1) Student loans are not LIFELONG. Repayment terms are typically 10-25 years.
2) Student loans are not draconian. Approximately 60% of students borrow to cover college costs. Of that, the average borrowed amount is approx 20-30k. Yet lifetime earnings 800k greater for the college grad:

http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2014/may/is-college-worth-it-education-tuition-wages/

Conclusion

Although there are stories of people who skipped college and achieved financial success, for most Americans the path to higher future earnings involves a four-year college degree. We show that the value of a college degree remains high, and the average college graduate can recover the costs of attending in less than 20 years. Once the investment is paid for, it continues to pay dividends through the rest of the worker’s life, leaving college graduates with substantially higher lifetime earnings than their peers with a high school degree. These findings suggest that redoubling the efforts to make college more accessible would be time and money well spent.

Again, the point of my response is that not all debt is bad. If fact, debt can be used by the majority of Americans to increase their financial well being.