[lsc]

the typical loan given to a person of that age in America is... different from the sort of loan you or I might take out. It is guaranteed both by the government and the debtor. You can't get out of American student loans through bankruptcy.

Personally, I think this is incredibly destructive; Banks will loan money as 'student loans' to people they'd never think of giving similarly sized regular loans. People that obviously have little chance of paying the loan back.