Assuming you are in the U.S. and have a Stafford, SLS, PLUS or Consolidation loan, you can most likely get a n economic hardship deferment. I have done it before and essentially all you have to do is ask for it. They aren't going to ask you to prove you can't afford it. You can't defer them forever - different types of deferments have different maximum time durations.

The U.S. Department of Education explains it all here: http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/difficulty.jsp?tab=repaying

If you have a massive amount of student loan debt, there's a loophole that you might want to consider... If you take a couple online classes at a community college per semester (at least 6 credit hours), you can get an in-school deferment and the government pays the interest that accrues on your subsidized loans. In my case, the cost of tuition was a couple hundred dollars, but I saved about $2,000 in interest per semester and didn't have to make payments for years. Unfortunately, it's almost like having a part-time job doing just enough to pass the classes (pick the easiest ones you can find), but if you consider that you don't have to make payments and the government subsidizes the interest while you do this, it may be worth it to you. I stopped playing this game when Public Service Loan Forgiveness became available. After I make 10 years of payments and stick with my qualifying job, any remaining balance will be forgiven. Since my payments are less than the interest that accrues each month, that's going to be a lot of debt forgiven. Unfortunately, my payment is about $890 a month, which leaves me with very little discretionary income, but after 10 years I will finally have this beast off my back!
Source(s):
Personal experience

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