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May I discharge student loans?

Changes to the Bankruptcy Code in late 1998 made student loans non dischargeable, regardless of the age of the loan, unless the borrower can establish substantial hardship. The only way the loan can be modified or discharged is by proving that repayment of the loan will create an undue hardship on the debtor/borrower and his family. This standard is generally interpreted to mean that the debtor cannot maintain a minimally adequate standard of living and repay the loan. It usually requires a showing that the conditions that make repayment a hardship are unlikely to improve substantially over time. Many courts use the following test for determining whether repayment of student loans present an undue hardship on the borrower/debter:

that the debtor cannot maintain, based on current income and expenses, a "minimal" standard of living for herself and her dependents if forced to repay the loans;
that additional circumstances exist indicating that this state of affairs is likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans; and
that the debtor has made good faith efforts to repay the loans.