As a practical matter, you should pay it. 20k isn't a huge student debt. There are some occasions when it may be ok, with great regret, to fail to pay yor deb

As a practical matter, you should pay it. 20k isn't a huge student debt. There are some occasions when it may be ok, with great regret, to fail to pay yor debts. There is a reason we allow bankruptcy. Sometimes circumstance or just very poor judgement (often both) means a person will be impoverished for the rest of his or her life trying to pay off a debt. In this case, we do allow a clean start, after a period of credit purgatory. Creditors do need to be careful too. This is one reason I'm not a big fan of the student loan system. No way would a creditor loan 160k to a mucis major with no assets under normal circmstances. But the govt guarantees the loan, by taking away the option of ordinary bankruptcy. This can be very harmful. But in your case? 20k of student loan isn't a terrible burden. it makes sense to loan this amount and to pay it.