This whole area of law is completely out of control. We are creating a subclass of educated (and some not-so-educated) poor people. We are basically creating a class of indentured servants who were essentially unknowingly induced into loans that they cannot repay. Many were sold a bill of goods that they could get good jobs upon graduation and repaying their loans would not be a big issue, then the economy tanked.
This is a worse crisis than the mortgage crisis.
At least with a mortgage, once they foreclose, you can walk away - student loans are making American citizens slaves to debt collectors and banks - two of the most unscrupulous entities in our society.
The taking of 80 year olds' social security money to pay on 30 year old student loan debt is beyond inhumane. I am shocked there has been no rioting or occupy movements based on the outrageous laws Bush signed into law making student loans super-liens on par with, or maybe even above, the IRS.
Our founding fathers would not have stood for this type of treatment of their American people. This is a shameful time.