Today the United States faces a student debt crisis with the amount owed by students totaling in the trillions. With the rise of universities in the 12th century and onwards, did the budding scholars of that time encounter similar financial burdens?
Most medieval universities were funded either by the Catholic Church (University of Paris) or by the state (Oxford, Cambridge), so it is not unreasonable to assert that student loan debt was not a major concern for many young scholars.
While some universities were indeed funded by student fees, it is worth considering that the banking system was not what it is today in terms of money lending and that a "degree" was nowhere near as valuable as it is today.