If you need to borrow for college, you want subsidized loans as opposed to private lender financing. With private lenders, school loans become the same as any other debt.
School loans, private or federally funded, cannot be excused by bankruptcy. You have to pay these babies off in their entirety, or be able to defer the federal loans long enough to have them forgiven (I believe it’s 25 years of deferrment.) This site has information about deferrment and forbearance of student loans.
My daughter financed grad school with a combination of private loans, Stafford loans, scholarships, and Pell Grants, which do not have to be repaid. She drew more out against the Stafford loans than she needed, and worked full time to reduce her living expenses. As a result, at the end of the master’s program, she had enough money saved to pay off the private loans entirely, as well as a portion of the stafford loans. She is working, but a perk of her job is 6 hours of university study for free, so the Stafford program considers her a student, and her loans defer. She is paying the interest and part of the principal each month anyways, so it doesn’t build up. Since her job pays less than $30,000 a year, this is a welcome perk. By living frugally, she is able to make a small loan payment without any problem.