What do murderers, traitors and college students have in common? The answer: there is no statute of limitations for murder, treason or paying off your college loans. The similar treatment is a sign of how Congress sees students who borrow money and then struggle to repay it.

Without question, student loans can be one of the best investments of a lifetime. A college degree is worth nearly $1 million more than a high school diploma over a lifetime.

But if something goes wrong – a financial emergency, an illness, or a career skid – loans suddenly don’t seem so affordable. And under the terms of the loan program, when students slip up and miss a few payments, they can quickly find themselves in a ditch. A recent report from Deanne Loonin of the National Consumer Law Center describes how easily things can go from bad to worse.

That’s because lenders have an incentive to let loans slide into default. They get paid for default collection, not default prevention. Before long the defaulted loan is assigned to a collection agency, which also gets paid less if it cuts students a break and compromises on a repayment plan.

Students can end up on the hook for the original debt, interest, and up to 25 percent in collection fees. To collect, the government can garnish wages, seize tax refunds, and confiscate Social Security payments. Most student loans can never be escaped, even in bankruptcy, no matter how long ago they were made.

As Loonin writes, “Many student loan borrowers face a lifetime of debt with little or no chance of escape. … Borrowers are allowed very little margin for error and can easily become overwhelmed by student loan debt.” She proposes a series of steps, such as rewarding lenders for reducing defaults, flexible repayment terms for struggling students, and the ability to discharge student loans in bankruptcy.

In a similar vein, the Project on Student Debt and other groups are calling for the Education Department to take concrete steps to help students struggling with unaffordable loans. They want Education to offer relief to students whose payments exceed 15 percent of discretionary income and forgive any outstanding balance after 20 years of repayment. (If you are interested in supporting their ideas, you can help here.)

Reformers should look for big ideas to make college affordable that capture the imagination, like this one from Professor Warren. But fundamental change doesn’t come easy. In the meantime, we need to demand concrete steps to help students now. We need to help students who fall behind catch up, not push them down.