About 43 million people in the US hold that debt collectively. That's an average of $23,000 per person. The median is likely much lower as many doctors, lawyers, and other post-grads have $100-300k in debt.

I don't think that it's an arduous sum at all. I came from a working class family and I had nearly twice that amount ~$40,000 when I got out of college in 2001. I set up a payment plan and paid it off with about 5-6% interest.

The good ol’ classic “if I did it, anyone can do”. Funny you say you got out of college in 2001, when the entire global and domestic political-economic scenario were different and the social value of a degree was much higher than today.