First, it’s a lot to ask of someone to leave the country where their friends and family live. Many aren’t interested in doing that.

Immigrating elsewhere is also not easy if you’re in a less in demand profession. Of course these are the ones where it’s most likely to have unsupportable amounts of debt.

If you’re a US citizen, you are still required to pay taxes on your global income no matter where you live in the world. If you ever get a tax refund, it can be garnished for federal student loans that are in default.

"If you’re a US citizen, you are still required to pay taxes on your global income no matter where you live in the world."

The first 108 000 dollars that you make elsewhere are exempt. You can live quite comfortably in most of Europe on 108 000 dollars brutto.

A vast majority of people are simply not "trapped" to that extent. They're better off staying and paying down their debt with the increased incomes they can earn in the U.S. The unavailability of bankruptcy is only ever an issue for a small fraction of basically non-traditional students, either at for-profit colleges or pursuing some sort of professional education that ends up not recouping the expenses involved.

A significant, maybe half, Ill have to look of student loan debt is held by people who didn't graduate and thus gained no economical advantage from the debt.