debt just sent to collections

What type of debt? Who is it for and who is collecting it?

do you know of the debt? does it belong to you? sol may be up. these are all things that must be considered we would need to know a little more to help you!

Unless you live in Rhode Island (10 yrs SoL), the statute of limitations is probably up if the last payment was 10 years ago. They can still try to collect on old debt (known as Zombie Debt) they just can't sue after SoL.
If you make even one penny payment, you will re-age the account and the SoL starts over.

If you want to take care of it, offer to settle for 5-10% because they only paid a couple hundred dollars for this old debt. (No matter the balance). Settlement letter in advance etc. If you don't have the money or they don't accept the settlement, send a C&D and you will never hear from that collector on that account again.

Google "zombie debt collectors"