Bringing down student debt and boosting the regions in one fell swoop sounds, in theory, like a good idea. Labour has floated it, saying if people would be willing to take a public sector job in the regions for a certain amount of time, they should have some of their loan paid off.

National's dismissed the idea, saying it would be expensive, and Labour doesn't have any hard figures on how the plan would work. Which is correct, so currently the scoreboard is one-all.

Unfortunately the scoreboard stops there, because both parties have missed the point. The saying goes that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and the problem here is too many people being weighed down by debt that didn't give them anything in exchange.

When my generation was leaving school, the advice was clear. Get a degree, any degree. Study the subjects you love and you'll figure out a career eventually.

It's easy advice to give when you're not thinking about the reality of tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and possibly no change in job prospects at the end of it. It's easy advice to take when you're young, inexperienced, and trusting of those giving the advice.

The result is that 720,000 New Zealanders are now struggling under the weight of student loans. A fifth of our entire population. Meanwhile, over in the UK, new research finds a third of graduates regret going to University. Those British students say they could have landed their current job without a degree, and are struggling to pay daily expenses as well as their loan bills.

Sign me up as one of those with a case of regret. My initial degree was a good idea, but when the good grades and encouragement came in, I was somehow talked into studying for a Masters degree.

It's nice and all, knowing that I practically wrote a book, which now sits in Victoria University's library. But it added another $20,000 on to my mountain of student debt, was entirely unnecessary, and meant another year where I wasn't earning in the work force. But my parents are proud, so that's nice.

There will always be those who are suited to university, and the jobs that follow from there. But rather than sending our young people willy-nilly into a degree factory, how about we pause. Think about what's needed for the job that's wanted. Remember the trades, where there's good money to be had, and jobs going begging.

A culture change will do far more to fix our debt problem, than making people move house.