I've got a friend that's going to be in a world of hurt in another ~25 years (she just turned 38). She borrowed what was probably around low six figures to get an Economics degree from a private university. Worked for a few years in the late 90's, got laid off right after 9/11 (the insurance company she worked took a huge hit when the towers fell, I guess they covered parts of the WTC), and after that never really recovered job wise - she temped for a while, then got a low-wage job at a major cell phone company before being laid off for absenteeism due to a chronic medical condition (she exceeded her FMLA time). She isn't sick enough to get SSDI but is too sick to work (according to her, and I more or less believe her) a regular job. So they are a one income family (no kids due to fertility issues), her husband is also very underemployed and I'm pretty sure also has student loan debt. I'm not sure but I suspect she and her husband now live with her parents (we only keep in touch minimally thru Facebook).
I doubt they've made student loan payments in years. With all the interest on top of interest, late fees, etc. their balances must be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even if they both landed decent jobs tomorrow, they'd never pay it all back. And I have no hopes for them getting decent jobs. She gets sick too frequently to hold a steady job and my impression of her husband is that he's well meaning and willing to work like a dog, but at the same time has no ambition to be anything other than a call center rep (the one thing he's got going for him is that he's bilingual, so he should always be able to find work).
So I do worry. SS is going to be the only income in retirement they are going to have, and it's going to get garnished for the student loan debt. On one hand, yeah they borrowed the money and they need to pay the piper at some point. On the other hand, I don't want to see them in what is likely going to be crushing poverty at the end of their lives. They aren't bad people, just insanely stupid people (when it comes to finances) who also had a run of bad luck. I don't want them let off the hook, but what else can be done?