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Many students graduate from college and professional schools, including those of social work, nursing, medicine, teaching and law, with crushing debt burdens.

The cost of college education today is so high that many young people are giving up their dream of going to college, while many others are graduating deeply in debt.

There is lots of evidence that it is this fear of going into debt that most puts people from poorer backgrounds off going to university.

Borrowing to pay for college used to be the exception; now it's the rule.

Student loan debt is the reason I don't advise students who want to become entrepreneurs to apply to elite, expensive colleges. They can be as successful if they go to a relatively inexpensive public college.

The U.S. Census Bureau acknowledged this fact when it reported that those with a bachelor's degree earn on average $1 million more over their lifetime than those with only a high school diploma.

The new American dream is one of responsibility. What is the bottom-line number that you're going to be able to pay back toward a student loan responsibly if you're doing it yourself after you have a job? That dictates the amount of money you can borrow. That dictates the school you can go to, if you can even go to a four-year college at all.

The loans I took out for my undergraduate degree were manageable. But my legal education was more expensive, and I paid for it almost entirely through public and private loans.

Ever since going up to university, I have accumulated new debt, and new means of becoming indebted.

I think if you have to pay for your education, you worry very seriously about you're going to do when you've got your degree.