A Perspective

Outstanding Student Loan Debt - 2009 (fed) $605,600,000,000
Outstanding Student Loan Debt - 2009 (private) $157,800,000,000
Outstanding Total Student Loan Debt - 2009 $763,400,000,000
Outstanding Mortgage Debt - 2009 $14,287,340,000,000
Outstanding Credit Card Debt - 2009 $917,000,000,000

Sources:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/releases/mortoutstand/current.htm
http://www.hoffmanbrinker.com/credit-card-debt-statistics.html
http://www.finaid.org/loans/

Interesting, to me, which debt can be written off and escaped (and who is more likely to have that debt) and which debt cannot be eliminated through bankruptcy.