I've just looked at an interesting graph of growth in student loans since 1999 --- which is an astounding 511%.

Here's a quote from the piece I read:

"Liz Dwyer notes that "the growth of student loan debt was twice as steep as the growth of mortgages and revolving home equity from 1999 to the peak of the housing bubble in 2008."

Yeesh. I remember that people were already complaining about them in the 90s. In the light of today's statistics, the debt burden then was mild.