[s1artibartfast]

Federal loans have maximum repayment periods of 10-30 years, but that does not mean the loan is forgiven at the end of this period. If you fail to make regular and complete payments, the loan can persist for the entirety of your life.

By runaway interest, I mean compounding debt, not change of interest rate. If payment on a federal loan is low or non-existent, the debt will increase exponentially over time.

Take for example a student who takes ~50K in debt, but fails to graduate or secure income to pay the annual interest.

With a federal loan, payments may be deferred or reduced, but the debt will continue to increase with time. If not payed off, this will last for the student's life.

With some ISAs, there may be no payments required, and the entirety of the debt disappears after X years.

[dragonwriter]

> Federal loans have maximum repayment periods of 10-30 years, but that does not mean the loan is forgiven at the end of this period.

Yes, for income-driven plans that are paid as required, it does.

> If you fail to make regular and complete payments, the loan can persist for the entirety of your life.

If you don't pay an ISA as required it becomes an unpaid debt with all the normal features of unpaid debt, it doesn't just vanish if you fail to pay. So “federal loans don't disappear if you don't pay them”, while true, isn't really a difference.

[s1artibartfast]

>Yes, for income-driven plans that are paid as required, it does.

Thank you for sharing this, I was not aware and found supporting information here: https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/repayment/plans/income-d...

>If you don't pay an ISA as required it becomes an unpaid debt with all the normal features of unpaid debt, it doesn't just vanish if you fail to pay.

Correct, ISAs don't vanish if you meet the criteria for payment, but choose not to. This is only comparable to a federal loan, and one with an income-driven plan.

This says nothing about ISAs verses other federal loans, and ISAs versus other private loans.