Far more complex issue than just that, but that is one of the negative fall outs. It's sort of like credit card use: they have their purpose but if you can't afford to pay it off quickly -- ideally within a month before the usury interest rates that used to be illegal kick in--they can be a death spiral. But for adolescents and young adults, it feels like free money so they tend to binge for the immediate gratification.
I was fortunate. I and my family could never have afforded me getting a college education if it wasn't a period when taxpayers were still investing in public education as a way to build an educated workforce that would attract employers into the state. There was no tuition. I still had to work two, sometimes three part-time jobs, while going to school to pay for room & board, books, and incidental costs. But it was doable.
Then public funding largely dried up, the public universities had to start charging tuition and could charge foreign and out of state students more so in-state residents took a back seat. The Federal student loan program was supposed to be a solution, but became part of the problem. While it is guaranteed by the government, it is run by the private sector. Financial institutions and for-profit educational institutions are rife with predatory practices, fraudulent promises, atrocious interest rates. And when it gets turned over to collection agencies, it gets even worse.
The other alternative new since my era are 529 accounts. But again, those in poverty and living paycheck to paycheck can't afford to put much, if any, into such accounts so it is back to your original premise of it being a poverty tax.
