Brittani Norris died in a car accident a few weeks before graduating from college - who should pay off her student loan?

http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation

Federal student loans are discharged upon death

If you, the borrower, die, then your federal student loans will be discharged.

If a parent co-signed a private (non-Federal) loan with a student …. the co-signer would pay

So, what if it had been $100,000 in credit card debt? Would the parents have petitioned to have that debt forgiven? (Before you ask, I don’t know how much she owed. I just picked a round number.) What if it was a husband and father of four who just took out a mortgage? Should the bank just forgive it? What a ridiculous response.

This is also what life insurance is for.