Is it possible to pay down debt frugally?

I have $2000 in school loans that I need to pay off in order to go back to school.

I had to drop all my classes 4 years ago and paid a minimum payment on my loans. Unfortunately my debt was sold and the loans went back up :/ making most of the payments I paid irrelevant.

I quit making payments out of spite for the added price. I decided to go back to school anyways and pay out of pocket. That didn't work out too well. I could afford the 1st semester but could not afford the 2nd.

I just received a scary debt collection notice from the department of education saying I needed to pay the debt off asap.

That's fine, but can you actually get anywhere paying of the minimum balance? I tried that and the debt got sold, the price went back up. It seems like a vicious cycle.

I don't have $2,000 to throw at them all at once. But I really want to go back to school.

Advice?