Interest Relief: If applied and accepted, the government will pay the interest on your loan for a certain period.

Revision of Terms: If you are still experiencing "financial hardship" after 30 months of interest relief, you can request that your loan period be extended to 15 years. Increasing the payback period means you pay more interest over time, but it will also decrease your payments substantially.

Extended Interest Relief: If you are still having trouble making your student loan payments after a Revision of Terms, you can apply for extended interest relief that will until 5 years after you leave school.

Debt Reduction: If, after 5 years after graduation, you are still impoverished and unable to make your student loan payments, you may apply to have the loan reduced by $10,000 or 50% of the loan principle, whichever is less.

The single most important thing to remember if you having difficulties with your student loan is to keep the lender informed and involved. This will give you some re-payment flexibility. Defaulting on the payments narrows your options considerably as eventually, your debt will be transferred to a collection agency. While the debt collection agency will work with you to create payment schedule you can live with, the long-term cost of the loan will skyrocket. As well, and as with other defaults, the event will be recorded in your credit report.

Declaring bankruptcy does not release you from your student loans, unless more than 10 years have passed since graduation.