I'm not seeing how people can bitch so much about $20-30k if they're gonna be making 50k a year when they're done with school. You should have no problem paying that off in 2 years, while still living relatively comfortably. Let's say you're spending $1000 a month rent/utilities, $200 a month on car insurance, $350 a month on health insurance, and $200 a month on food, $100 a month on gas, $100 a month on internet/cable, and you still give yourself $100 a month to spend at bars/movies/restaurants, that comes out to ~$25k a year. I'm living on less than that and I'm still finding my life very comfortable and enjoyable. So If she's making $50k a year, what the fuck does she do with the other $25k?
And every time I hear someone complaining about not being able to make the payments on their car, I want to punch them right in the mouth. Why the fuck do people think that they need to buy a brand new/almost new car? I bought my van (a 1995) for $2000 at 109k miles, and in 3 years/31k miles, I've only had to spend ~$1200 in repairs, and for very minor stuff like brake line and rotor replacement. There are plenty of great used cars out there for $1000-2000 that'll get you at least 20-30k miles before they die. There is no legitimate reason to buy a new/barely used car when you don't have the money for it.
I really hope that everyone who owes for student loans is grandfathered in (not that I believe Obama will actually deliver, he won't) so they still have to pay.