i was wondering about student loans and have heard lots of conflicting things so far, so a little clarification would be great.

i have 2 student loans out. on one i finished school and had the loans deferred because i went right back into another school. the new school took out a total of three loans to cover my tuition. i wasn't able to finish school, and eventually both school loans went into default. now i have a total of 4 or five seperate loans on my credit report.

is there a way to settle the loans without having to pay the full amounts up front? we are talking like 30 grand here! are there any other ways to get these loansd off my credit? bankruptcy?

also, if i am able to make payments, does it matter if the loans are in default or not or can i only make payments if the loans are still active. i heard theres nothing you can do about student loans on your credit report, hopefully i heard wrong.

one more question: does having student loans on your credit report look better than having other kinds of debt?