Or just look at how other countries do it - in UK your payments for the student loan are taken automatically from your salary each month(10% of anything above 20k/year - so if you make less than 20k/year you don't pay anything), but if there is any outstanding balance after 20 years it's automatically forgiven. No need to declare bankrupcy since if you can't pay it back there is simply nothing to pay. If you have a job it's paid back automatically without the employee having to do anything. If it's paid off in 20 years = great. If not = no big deal, you just get a letter saying that your outstanding balance is now zero.
I guess that system is possible because all loans are provided by the Student Loans Company which is ran by the government - and tuition is capped at 10k/year, so it doesn't matter what or where you study - the cost is exactly the same.
>The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer.
Small correction: current loans are written off after 30 years, not 20.
Also worth noting that loans can still be sold off by the SLC (though remain managed by the SLC, so probably makes little if any difference to the individual), and government ownership hasn't completely stopped the use of questionable tactics (e.g. debt collection letters purporting to be from "Smith Lawson & Company").
I guess that system is possible because all loans are provided by the Student Loans Company which is ran by the government - and tuition is capped at 10k/year, so it doesn't matter what or where you study - the cost is exactly the same.