The student loan debt exceeds $1 trillion and that doesn't include the parents portion. This is the amount students borrow from the Federal Government through the Stafford Loan, which caps out at $31,000 per student. So, is this a crisis or not? It is the second largest consumer debt, second only to mortgages, in America. But I don't think it's fair to compare it to mortgages, as those are held through banks and accordingly, people can walk away from it through foreclosures. Not so with students, they can't walk away from it so easy.
Here is a quality NY Times article addressing the issue-