I just mean that by not paying it now, everyone will ultimately pay more for it later. In the short run, you are right, it's better to put that money into the economy. In the long run it is not such a good thing since the debt has to be paid, plus interest (because the government is borrowing money too, including what it is lending out to students). Government keeps deferring debt and it keeps growing exacerbating the problem. The longer the delay, the worse it gets. Again, that's not just with student loans, its with how government manages debt in general.

Right now, the government owes over $30 trillion dollars. That really means that you and I and every other taxpayer owes $30 trillion dollars. Add in unfunded liabilities (things like social security and medicare which have supposedly been paid for but the government spent it and converted it into debt via bonds) and divide by the total number of taxpayers and you get something like $500,000 each.

This is all part of a bigger problem. The government can't control its spending and puts off paying debt because it is too painful. Yet it wants to buy votes with "free" money. The problem is it only gets more painful.