That was pretty much the case 20 years ago when I finished grad school, but again, only for Federally guaranteed loans. I opted for graduated repayment because I ran the numbers and realized that although I certainly couldn’t afford a straight 10-year repayment schedule on my salary, if I picked income-contingent, I’d never make a dent in the principal either. (And I don’t think the 25-year writeoff existed then.)
But again, these plans only apply to Federally guaranteed loans. The Feds were very helpful in working with me when I incurred large medical expenses not covered by insurance - I had a couple of brief hardship forbearances. I hear the private lenders are not so accommodating.
And I was working the whole time (yes, I was a liberal arts person for both undergrad and grad school, but haven’t been job-hunting for more than a couple of weeks at a stretch since I graduated college in 1989 - I’ve always been a full-time worker, a full-time student, or some combination of the two. And all my loans are paid off now.)