The debt I've seen my peers saddled with has typically been 6-10%, issued mostly in the recession/post-recession years of low interest rates. It seems like exceedingly high interest to me when mortgages and car loans are half as much.
mortgages and auto loans are secured with assets. the lender can take back the car or house if you default, greatly limiting the risk of lending.
a better comparison for an unsecured loan would be a credit card. please let me know if you find a credit card with anything near a 10% interest rate. afaik, the best rates are around 14% and only go to people with very good credit.
I think student debt is the safest of all. It can't be discharged in bankruptcy anymore. Further, it's typically guaranteed by the government on top of that. Credit cards are a poor comparison I think.
it's important not to conflate federal loans with private loans. neither can be discharged during bankruptcy, but only federal loans are guaranteed by the government. also, the government sets the interest rates on federal loans.
a private student loan is not a particularly safe debt to issue. even though the loan cannot be discharged, there is still a substantial risk that the borrower will never be able to pay it back. credit cards and personal loans are a pretty good comparison IMO, as the main difference is the fact that student loans cannot be discharged. this is in fact priced in already; even private student loans have much lower interest rates than any other kind of unsecured loan.
