A Nevada chiropractor has written a guide for those student loan debtors wishing to fleece Uncle Sam. He claims that some graduates with student loans hanging over their heads can legally default on the balance of their loans under student loan program reforms enacted in 1994.

Here's how it is supposed to work:

• Borrowers entering low-paying fields make modest initial payments that rise with their incomes -- with monthly payments so low that they don't even cover amounts of interest.

• As the unpaid interest compounds and is added to the original loan amount, the balance balloons.

• Then after 25 years, the government forgives any unpaid balance.

• The Education Department estimates that 20 percent of the $900 million in outstanding loans may wind up in default.

Source: Dean Foust, "A Student-Loan Offer You Can't Refuse," Business Week, April 28, 1997.