You could afford to pay it back - you just can't now. Its worth remembering that!
My wife and I are seriously skint right now. Very long story cut short is that right when this financial mess started, but before it hit the news, we got turned down everywhere for a routine remortage. It made no sense at the time, yes we had loans etc, but we always made payments and had clean histories. We decided we needed to clear our debts totally and started an ambitious repayment program. We could afford it, and we were due pay increases.
Then the recession hit
No pay increase, massive increase in costs plus the birth of our son means that suddenly our attempt to clear our debts is now swallowing every penny we have. There was no way we could have seen this coming, we just have to deal with it.
Its going to be really really tight over Christmas. But in January the first of the loans is paid off, so thats a lot more each month, another finishes in May.
The point is - you didn't create this situation. Deal with it however you need to, but never feel bad about it. The people who screwed our economy for personal profit are the ones who should feel guilty (but most likely don't), you shouldn't have to.