Check with your state government if you fall into a low income category, as some of them run subsidised loan schemes. My sister qualified for being a single parent, basically it's a reduced rate of interest and your repayments are tiered against your income, rather than against interest rates (this is in South Australia). Worth looking into IMO.
I worry about this - I'm not sure if it's exactly the same but this was done in Vic about 10 (?) years ago and ended in people never managing to make a dent in their debts and a huge class action against the govt.