Excessive debt of all kinds is the defining economic characteristic of our times. Paying it down to more manageable levels is draining families and nations of their ability to live comfortably today and lay aside savings for the future. Instead of World War III, we are waging World War D.

In this epic debt debacle, student loans have received relatively little attention. But they are mushrooming into a major new front in the struggle. Total outstanding student loans surpassed $1 trillion in the U.S. earlier this year, a function of skyrocketing college costs and a dismal job market that sent many back to school or kept them there, honing resumes in hopes of decent eventual employment.

A guest column in The Guardian (an English newspaper) last week by a young American graduate of a top university paints grim picture.

I may not look like it, but I am a modern-day serf. Saddled with thousands of dollars of student debt debt that has been stripped of all consumer protections and is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy I am part of a screwed generation.

She moved to Moscow to find a job and might never come back. She is one of a growing number of debt refugees who can cobble together a life abroad, presumably shielding some income from collection agencies and Sallie Mae, the nickname of the Student Loan Marketing Association.

The comedic essayist David Sedaris made this salient observation: Sallie Mae sounds like a naive and barefoot hillbilly girl, but in fact they are a ruthless and aggressive conglomeration of bullies.

Taking on debt of this nature is, of course, ultimately a personal decision, which intelligent college students ought to be able rationally analyze from a cost-benefit perceptive. It makes no sense to borrow enormous sums unless one has a clear-cut path to repayment.

Nevertheless, as a society we do ourselves no favors by engendering sensations of serfdom among our brightest young people.

We should:

Consider giving students at least the same access to court-supervised debt forgiveness that we provide to corporations;

Seriously supervise public higher-education entities that raise tuition so high, frequently to pay for multi-campus empires that state citizens and students can ill afford;

Provide more apprenticeships and other avenues for life success. College should not always be the default path.