The amount of debt is half of the issue. The interest rate is the other (some would say, more important) half. 

You're going to have expenses over the course of your life, so debt is not ***necessarily*** bad. UNCONTROLLABLE debt is the worst thing ever.

Rule of thumb, don't get into a situation where you can't afford to save 10% of your salary. That means that regular living expenses, bills, taxes, debt payments and fun add up to 90% or less of your income. It's a good habit to knock off another 5-10% for charitable giving of your choice. If your anticipated income is just enough to cover all of this in an acceptable way.... [i]don't do it.[/i] If your anticipated income is enough to cover all this [b]and have room to spare[/b], go ahead. You want to be able to exceed minimum payments on just about everything, to minimize total interest.

Sidenote, work during uni, bank more, pay as much as you can in cash. Lowering the 'principle' is exponentially better than paying down with interest later.