Student loans are near and dear to all our hearts. You like them a lot more than I do at this point, I promise.  Making payments is not nearly as fun as receiving refunds. Refunds end up as new laptops or tablets, nights out with friends, and a spring break trip we never forget. Repayment means box wine at home instead of bar tabs, Netflix instead of cable, and stay-cation instead of vacation.

The student loan debt tally is soaring higher and higher and seemingly has no end in sight. Colleges and universities have little incentive to truly control prices because there are so many people willing to finance enormous amounts of money to get a degree.

We have been socialized to believe and think that everyone should get a college degree. Student loans exist to make that reality.

We thought the same about owning a home and sub-prime lending made that a possibility. The end result was and still is a huge disaster. Borrowers could borrow far more money than their home was worth with little correlation to their ability to repay. Financing a college education is no different.

Federal student loans are not based on your ability to repay. You can borrow the same amount of money for a degree that could land you a job making $35,000 as you could for one that could allow you to earn $75,000.

We should put the blame on the university for charging the same price for those two degrees because they don’t have the same economic value. We all decide what we want to study and I’m not suggesting that one is better or more important than the other; I mention that only because we need to make smart financial decisions about our future.

According to the university, the cost of attending U. Toledo with no grants or scholarships with living on campus is $23,108 per year. That is $93,432 for a four year degree. That is an enormous monthly payment to make after graduation, whether you are working or not. And that debt isn’t like other debts you have or will incur later – you own it forever.

It is almost impossible to discharge a student loan in bankruptcy and the lenders don’t play by the same rules as other creditors. They can garnish your wages, take your tax refunds, take a portion of your social security or the social security of your cosigner, and the list goes on.

The good news is that federal student loans have far more options for help than their private counterparts, so please avoid private loans if at all possible. One of the biggest advantages is loan forgiveness (not for private loans) if you work in public service. This option allows for graduates to take jobs in the public sector that typically don’t pay as well as private sector jobs, and have the balance of their loans forgiven after meeting certain requirements. You can read all the details at http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml.

As a bankruptcy attorney, the number of people I see with unmanageable student loan debt is staggering and frightening. In almost every case, they have borrowed far more money than they could ever possibly repay given the field they have chosen. I’m not talking just about artists, film, or liberal arts majors. I am talking about teachers, attorneys, accountants and even doctors and engineers. Even if they are lucky enough to get a job with a high salary, the student loan payment is equally as high. And filing bankruptcy isn’t as easy as it used to be, so now they may not qualify even if student loans were dischargeable.

Do yourself and your family a huge favor and borrow responsibly. Don’t borrow more than you have to. Work part time and use that money for rent and spring break, not student loan money. You have options; do some research before you sign any loan documents. Talk to someone in the financial aid office. Talk with your parents or someone you trust that understands finance and money to help you understand what you are getting yourself into. Your education is the door to a bright and successful futur,e and being as responsible as possible now will make sure that paying for that education doesn’t devastate your future.  Good luck!

Troy M. Hawkins is a Toledo bankruptcy lawyer who graduated from UT with his Juris Doctorate in 2008.