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Can you declare bankruptcy when it comes to student loans?

Student loans are going to kill me one of these days. I know I don't have to repay until after graduation, but is one allowed to declare bankruptcy if you aren't able to pay them back? There's certainly no guarantee that I'm going to be able to jump into a tremendously successful career following graduation. Or do the loan moguls have us poor students over a barrel?

Public Comments

1. declaring bankruptcy doesn't help with your student loans. In fact, if the student loan people think that you aren't going to pay them they are one of the few credit agencies that can have your wages garnished without taking you to court over it. It really is NOT COOL. As long as you do the best that you can and send them some money to keep them appeased you should do alright although that won't really help you get out of debt. But bankruptcy won't help you in this case.
2. Unfortunately student loans are one of the few items that do not get dismissed with a bankruptcy. Unless you can prove "extreme hardships" (I'm not sure what specifically constitutes hardships, but this was something I read in an article), you'll have to pay them back, or they'll be forcibly docked from any paycheck you may have. The main reason for all of this is because it's taxpayer money that funds these loans, and the government will not excuse someone borrowing other taxpayers money and then defaulting on them.
3. Student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. The only exception is if you are somehow able to prove you are totally and permanently disabled.