>so too does the individual student, no?

You mean the child? Following the advice of their parents and mentors?

Yes, the 18-22 year old "child". Otherwise known as an adult.

People are usually 15/16/17 when they start applying to universities and applying for loans. You know, children.

Applying for college, yes. Applying for loans at 15? No. In the U.S., loans are generally applied for on an annual basis and disbursed on a semester basis. So once again, we return to these people being 18-22 (adults).

My actual point was that yes, parents/teachers/principals/other adult advisers do bear some responsibility, but let's also not pretend the actual students are unable to reason about future income and debt.