"As Americans curb their spending and battle to keep up with credit cards and mortgages, another type of debt is starting to overtake people: student loans," The Wall Street Journal reports. "Although the U.S. has experienced economic downturns before, never has one converged with such high levels of student debt. The fear is that default rates on student loans will increase, as seen in the mortgage and credit-card worlds. This time around, lenders - both federal and private - are working with borrowers to renegotiate loan terms to keep default rates low."