EVERYONE going into education should know about this ...http://www.ibrinfo.org/ It's called Income Based Repayment and it is help for folks with public loan debt, especially folks going into the public sector: govt, education, non-profits, etc.
Also, stop freaking the poor guy out. He isn't going to die or starve or anything. (From someone with 90K in undergrad debt). This situation depends highly on the percentage of your debt that is truly private. The public debt can be paid back in 10 years if you go into higher ed after you graduate.