Omid Sanjideh, a graduate student from the University of California, Berkeley, attended the UC Board of Regents meeting in Sacramento, Calif. More than a dozen protestors clad in orange and calling themselves prisoners sentenced to debt, disrupted the meeting calling for a crackdown on UC mismanagement of executive pay, tuition hikes.

Gan Golan, of Los Angeles, dressed as the "Master of Degrees," holds a ball and chain representing his college loan debt, during Occupy DC activities in Washington.

Graduate student Pedro Ramirez, right, talks with Associated Students Inc. Vice President Jonathon Bolin on the campus of California State University, Long Beach in Long Beach, Calif. Ramirez says he managed to finish his undergraduate degree from another CSU campus in Fresno last year without student loans - but not without credit card debt.

Jesse Yeh looks out on the Occupy Cal encampment at Sproul Plaza on the University of California campus in Berkeley, Calif. He will do just about anything to avoid debt. Yeh uses the university's library instead of buying textbooks. He scrounges for free food and campus events and occasionally skips meals.