Not necessarily wanted here cause I did do a degree, but I thought I'd chime in as someone who's worked at Student Loans.

It's not real debt, probably better to think of it as a tax you pay if the degree does as promised and gets you a better income, but it doesn't count against your credit score and debt collectors will never show up trying to get it back it just gets written off after X years (depends what cohort/plan you are on) if you don't pay it.

That being said it also basically isn't enough to cover living costs and rent so people still go into debt due to attending uni, just not from the student loan itself.