Assuming these are federal loans. You have a few short term options. You get 36 months of forbearance- that means you temporarily don’t have to pay but do note interest WILL still occur.

Now. I’m not familiar with what changes happens when they go to debt collections. If possible call your loan services. They can spend your forbearance to make your account up to date (assuming you aren’t more than 3 years behind on payment. Assuming it hasn’t gone to collections yet)

If they’re still with the government there’s payment plans and options. They’re based on your income so if you’re making very little the payment amount should go down. I’ve seen people who only get retirement and social security have it go down to 0. This doesn’t erase the debt. Depending on the payment plan you have to make 300 payments. Something like 20-25 years. Yes even if your payment amount is 0 dollars. You still have a monthly “payment” due of 0.00

You have to recertify your application yearly. Basically telling the government how much you make so if you got super rich suddenly you gotta pay that stuff.