Funny thing about it is the people who go off on tangents about personal responsibility are the ones who were hired at just the right time, upgraded in 10 months, and are now making 6+ year captain pay and have paid off their loans (sorry for the run-on sentence). They are preaching about responsibility to people who have done the EXACT same thing as them, but at a different time, and are now reserve / furloughed FO's who now owe way more in interest because of a lack of upgrading and ability to pay off their loan. I seriously doubt anybody took out a loan thinking "I will only make $20K/year, but thats okay, I'll make it work". It was probably more like "Damn, $60K loan is a lot, but I'll be a captain within 2 years making $60K+/year, so I'll be able to pay that off without a problem."

Food for thought:
When I was hired, they told my class that we would probably be back in the school house in 8-10 months for upgrade. By the time I started IOE, hiring had completely stopped. 3 years later, I'm a reserve F/O with no line in sight, and no upgrade anywhere near the horizon. This stuff happens. Luckily for me, I've been able to pay loan payments.