And the highly paid university administrators some, if not many, of whom also get paid for sitting on corporate boards, keep asking for money for buildings, including spa-like dormitories.  From what I have read and know, there is no way today's students can afford higher education.  

I really don't know what the spending habits are of most people who are in debt.  I do know that medical costs and educational costs are what separate the USA's middle class from those in most, if not all, other developed countries.  The biggest spenders in our extended family is the couple and their now adult children who made the least, but live in a European country where those two costs are unbelievably lower than here.  They are the ones who shop till they drop when in the States or buzzing all over Europe.