l have been taking care of my elderly mother for 8yrs...During this time l did not have a job.l was into programming, However, my skillset is so old now no one will hire me for that job.It isnt like there are many programming jobs here anyway.l was lucky to find ANY job with the way things are now ...in the last year 8,000 people have gone homeless in my town.With no money and bills stacking up l feel screwed.The student loan has mentioned prison.So they have the equivalent of debtors prison now?what do l do?

There is no debtors prison. Or else we would all be in there by now, seriously.
l am where u are. l just tell the bill collectors to get lost because l do not make enough to pay them, & if they wo not accept the dollar or so a month l can afford they can just sue me. And then they still wo not get paid. (my problem is medical debt as well)
Stop freaking out & just worry about getting ANY job right now, any at all. Just make sure u can take care of ur basic needs. The debtors do not care if u become homeless paying them, so u just have to care for yourself.
Good luck.

You might want to think about moving if things are this bad. There has to be some kind of programming job in silicon valley. Or some bigger city.

It is illegal for a creditor to threaten you that they will file a charge, complaint, or criminal action against a debtor when the debtor has not violated a criminal law.

All they can do is sue you in CIVIL court. It is a civil offense, not criminal. Tell them to stop harassing you or you will report them to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violating the Fair lending Act and Truth- In-Lending Act.

First find out if you are actually responsible for your mother is medical debts. If you did not sign anything, and the bills are not in your name, the bill should be the responsibility of the estate, and if her estate has no money, oh well, too bad for them.

l am not an expert but Dave Ramsey is. Look around on his website or call into his show. l know it sounds kind of kooky but he gives great advice. Good luck.
http://daveramsey.com/

Nobody goes to prison for not paying student loans or any other debt. You r not responsible for any debt that was ur mothers. $500 is not enough to live on. There must be agencies where u live that will help u get job training. You will need to go to school & work at the same time. If credit card debt is yours, set up a payment plan even if it is only $10 a month. Ask them to reduce ur interest rate. l wish l knew more, but l can tell u this country does not have a debtors prison.

l agree with Peggy I. Check to see if u r the person who signed for any of ur mother is medical bills or care at hospital, etc. Medicaid would not pay $5000 one month for my mother is nursing home care (she'd been there 6 yrs) because of a screw up where there was too much money in her acct. So they threatened me with lawsuits, etc. Finally one of the people who worked there was nice enough to tell me to stop worrying. Medicaid does this to the nursing homes all the time & the nursing home then tries to collect from the nearest relative. Technically, l was not responsible for the bill at all because l did not sign her into the home, she signed the papers, so the bill was her responsibility but since she did not have any money left, the nursing home got cheated by Medicaid who refused to pay. So, point is, u may not be responsible for ur mother is bill, they r just threatening u to see if u will pay.