The Associated Press reports: "Recent government figures show nearly 10 percent of borrowers using federal student loans in the most recently measured timeframe had already defaulted within two years of starting repayment."
There are already income-based repayment programs that allow student loan borrowers to pay less if they are earning less, particularly if they go into "public service." But now that the government has supplanted private lenders in the student loan market, it's only a matter of time before pressure grows for student loan forgiveness along the lines of that that housing advocates have urged for mortgage debt or foreclosure prevention.