Yes student loans can be bankrupted if you qualify but it is very difficult.  Here is the National Public Radio report on the recent Francisco Espinosa case that bankrupted student loan interest.  The old rule was that Student loans could be bankrupted when they became 7 years old.  Now student loans can only be discharged in bankruptcy if you prove that repaying the loan is a hardship to you or your family. 

The Brunner bankruptcy test requires that first, the student loan Debtor cannot maintain, based on current income and expenses, a "minimal" standard of income for himself and his dependants if he repays the student loans.  Second, that these circumstances will persist for a significant remainder of the student loan repayment period. And third, that the debtor has made a good faith effort to repay the student loans.  Brunner v. New York State Higher Educ. Servs. Corp., 831 F. 2d 395 (2d Cir. 1987

It will often be argued that you could have consolidated you loan with the Ford Student Loan Program which bases your payments on your income and discharges your student loan upon reaching age 60 or after 20 years.  You may not however have to apply for this loan prior to attempting a hardship discharge.   HEAL student  loans require a more difficult standard of shocking the consciousness.  However notice that the CEO of Sallie Mae for Student Loans earns the highest salary for any CEO in Washington DC while he requires extreme conditions for you to have a hardship discharge for others.