Aren't the rates set by the government? At the very least, there should be ways for some of it to be forgiven for specific reasons, health reason would be on to

Aren't the rates set by the government? At the very least, there should be ways for some of it to be forgiven for specific reasons, health reason would be on top. There are for at least some reasons. There are both student loan forbearance, deferrment, and forgiveness programs available. Deferrments seem relatively easy to get (I have one currently while I attend grad school). Forgiveness programs seem very stringent and limited, but they do exist for certain forms of public service and for extreme hardship. There are deferrment and forbearance programs for temporary hardship though and income based repayment plans. http://www.finaid.org/loans/ http://www.finaid.org/loans/ has more details.