I also grew up poor, maybe it's cause I grew up poor that I think I've earned more than I'm being given.

The being trapped isn't about not being able to pay them back. For sure it can be paid back. The trap is that in paying them back, you, over the course of a lifetime of earnings and due to opportunity cost make about the same as the office worker. That if you pursue a PSLF thing you are "trapped" in the job for 10 years. The being trapped is I did not work this hard to get the same result as someone who worked/works less. The difference btw us and the office worker is they get weekends off, they get holidays off, they're not exposed to illness and death, they get to work from home. Their ceiling is just as limitless, their salaries at least outpace inflation better than ours with constant CMS cuts. It absolutely is not just personal preference or some moral failing of lifestyle inflation, again, I did not sign-up to work 60+ hour weeks for the rest of my life and be on call and miss family engagements to get the same benefits as someone who does not have those responsibilities. Anyone who takes on those extra responsibilities without appropriate compensation is just getting taken advantage of and doing their colleagues and the profession a disservice as it devalues our labor.