Are student loans a contemporary form of debt bondage?

Student loans can be viewed as a contemporary form of debt bondage. Student loans are no longer dischargeable in bankruptcy. A total of $30,000 borrowed in the 1980's was recently declared worth $100,000 today, and rising steadily. Student loans are given out to a lot of people with no guarantee that the individual will secure a form of employment where s/he can earn a living wage and repay. Students contemplating borrowing money for education should think twice, and first be sure they understand the dynamics of credit and the economy over a long period of time. Once an individual defaults on a student loan, they are unable to obtain any credit, even if they are otherwise credit eligible. Income tax refunds of up to $2,000 per year designed for single parents with documentable very low incomes and no assets are routinely seized by collection agencies acting on behalf of defaulted student loans.

There are reasons why young people should think twice about signing away their economic freedom. But I'm thinking more along the lines of why there's been a policy decision to make them do that.

Certainly, educational debt is no more morally opprobrious than, say, gambling debt. Yet society allows bankruptcy to wipe out the former, but not the latter.