I agree with you that blanket loan forgiveness is a bad idea. As I understand the research, it helps upper income students more than the poor.

However:

I once taught freshman year composition to classes that had many poor kids from the Mississippi Delta. For people living there and in rural Appalachia and inner cities, paying one's way through college is all but impossible. There are few jobs, many applicants for each job, and the pay is minimum wage or barely above.

There is no public transportation or so little in the Delta and in Appalachia, it is of no use getting to a job, so cars are required. The catch-22 is obvious here: you can't get a job without a car and can't get a car without a job.

The point: It is impossible for some people to get a job to pay as they go for college.

My personal solution to the student loan crisis is public service in exchange for loan forgiveness. The military already does something similar. Maybe we could do the same for civilian jobs. (Many working for non-profits get a break on tuition repayment. Maybe we could extend this idea as well.)

Working in low-income communities as teachers, social workers, health care providers, etc. in exchange for a modest salary and loan forgiveness would benefit both the student and the larger community. Maybe people could work on infrastructure projects or non-profits.

That way, no one gets something for free while others paid but the student gets out from the burden of crushing debt.