Student loans can be deferred for many reasons, including economic hardship. So if you find yourself having a hard time making payments, or you need money for something else right now, you can defer the repayment. Of course interest will continue to accumulate if you have unsubsidized loans.

As the other posters said, in this case only, inflation is your friend. Since the amount of your loan is fixed, you will be able to pay larger sums of money as your salary is annually adjusted for inflation (normally 2-6%).