My son will have his student loans paid off at the end of next year. He went into the marines for 4.5 years, then judo and UCLA. After he ran out of GI Bill (is it still called that?) most everything was student loan.
Next year at age 35 he’ll marry and probably buy a house. So his work is finally paying off.
The government has put in all sorts of ways to repay the loans - some loans are repaid for nurses who go into county hospitals; teachers who go into low income areas; the new crop of community organizers/lawyers can take a very low paying job for 10 to 15 years and pay pennies on the dollar for their loans...and have them completely discharged after a certain length of time.... if you can't find a job there is even an income based repayment option where even someone oweing $100K can be paying $50 a month.... so there is no excuse for deadbeats NOT repaying their loans.
I just made my last payment. Celebrated by going to the range.