from 50K to 10K, at this rate you’re all getting a check for $2.50
Employers, obviously. They get college educated workers willing to work for peanuts just to keep the treadmill going.
It’s also a good method of social control from the government’s perspective. The debt essentially nerfs whatever dissident sentiment that generally arises from being educated and learning to think critically. In this way, you are free to learn all about Karl Marx etc etc, but your material condition of precariousness will ensure that your labor will be put to use for capitalism’s ends.