No, he said that you shouldn't worry about paying them for the first three years - presumably because this is the period of time for which all student loans can be deferred due to unemployment in the United States.

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/deferment-forbearan...

What kind of interest do you pay in the US for student loans, anyways?

Completely forgetting about your credit card debt, or even your mortgage, for any extended period of time sounds like an amazingly stupid decision. Ignore compound interest at your own peril.

Typical rates are between 4 and 7 percent.

Agreed about the issue of compound interest, but everyone's case is different. I think that's all he's saying: "Take the time to be unemployed and figure out what you want to do. Three years of CI is less important than knowing what you want to spend your life making money at."

Now one might argue that this decision should be made prior to going to university in the first place...

Are you surprised by this? Median student loan debt of graduates is around $15k. Is it really that hard to expect some people to prioritize their debt to the tune of $6k/year?

My student loans were about 3x that, and since the interest rates were relatively low, I never prioritized them. It's been about 7 years and I'm still paying a couple of them. Really any of my other debts would be more profitable targets.

What's your source on $15k?