>payments capped at 10% of disposable income That's what almost everyone fails to mention every-time "crippling student loan debt" pops up. It's capped at 10%

>payments capped at 10% of disposable income That's what almost everyone fails to mention every-time "crippling student loan debt" pops up. It's capped at 10% of disposable income, and disposable income is calculated as 1.5x the federal poverty level. So if you're making under that (because you're stuck in a part time food service job), you pay nothing. As you make more money, you'll pay more, but it will never go above 10% of disposable income, and you can write off up to $2,500 per year in interest paid on the debt (so if you're making very little you'll be able to take a deduction for almost the entire amount you pay). Then if you haven't managed to pay off your loans after 20 years of making payments, the debt is cancelled [1]. The Obama administration also changed the eligibility for income based repayment plans, so that people with older student loan debt can sign up for them as well. [1] There's still a problem with the IRS taxing cancelled deb but, it's not as bad as it seems. First, You're only taxed up to insolvency. So for instance, if you have more liabilities than assets (including the student loan), the tax debt is cancelled. This is likely the case for someone who didn't make enough to pay off the loan in 20 years. Second, sometime over the next 20 years as more and more people face this situation, congress is likely to do something. There are no interest groups fighting for the status quo, it won't cost that much, and it looks good as a press release, so there's good reason to think congress will fix this.