Well, Great Aunt Fannie Mae has officially moved in. My wife's student loans have started coming due. $65,000 in debt, $500 a month in payments. She makes $12.50 an hour with few options for a path forward.

I was telling her it is literally a house that can't be rented out. It's a $65,000 burned down duplex with no tenants, a mortgage payment, no insurance and no way to fix.

She always says she wished she met me 4 years earlier so I could've talked her out of grad school.

Master degree really worth nothing.

Time to kick up the apartment buying.

NE,

Lets not start bashing college degrees, especially the Masters or Ph.D. I have 2 college degrees and they are worth every penny I paid for them. At first, a college degree will open doors for people but you have be able to apply that higher knowledge once you get past the front door.

Roy, I'm not trashing degrees, in trash in student loans. She has a masters in Early Childhood. That means Daycare.

Good luck breaking into the politics of the public school system. This post is more about the staggering amount of student loan debt people get.

She may use it later in life for a more rewarding career: teaching at uni or running a daycare, public early childhood, etc. If nothing else though, I'm sure your own kids will benefit!

I remember a professor telling me that at the graduate level if you haven't figured out how to have someone else pay for it at that point, you really should never go any further.

That always seemed to strike a cord with me.

Indeed she has one of the lowest paying degrees that you can pick up. Can she pick up a teaching credential and teach at Votec or a different private career school? That or does the school that she graduated from........does it have a day care center? Normally directors only have a BS so she could provide value added in a place that puts a huge priority on education - the college. Trade the debt for employment security.

The year we met my SO got suckered by the Art Institute into their "Game Design" degree. She was 21. What 21 year old doesn't want to earn a living playing video games? Then I showed her she'd be lucky to earn $9 and hour as a graphic designer when she graduated $120,000 later.

By the time she realized they suckered her into a worthless degree and we got her extracted, they had sucked out over $30,000 in loans. We should have sued for fraud.

She had to sit out a year as it was too late to apply, then got a real degree (computer science) from UC San Diego. All her costs at the university were paid either by grants and a $2,000 a year scholarship or subsidized by our working.

People - DO NOT LET ANYONE YOU KNOW TAKE ON LOANS FOR COLLEGE!!! DO NOT DO IT! Not for any reason.

PS - Masters are worthless degrees. Get a PhD. Our one mistake was not biting the bullet and have her go right into the PhD program. Now it's been six years and life happens. For her to return will take a major relocation for us for multiple years. But they get PAID for their research at least. It's hard to take a pay cut to maybe 1/3 what she makes now for 2-3 years just to add "Dr." to her name.

Sometimes I think the big push for most everyone to get "educated" came about because of the lack of jobs. You convince more people to go to school for 4-6 years, then you somewhat solve the unemployment problem by having less people available to work. You also create a new job industry: you need more college professors plus all the other workers involved with making/operating a college.

Notice how the big push is for everyone to get an education so that they can get a "good job?" Well, what if everyone got a higher education? That won't solve the problem. Then there would simply be too many educated people.

Notice how the big push is for everyone to get an education so that they can get a "good job?" Well, what if everyone got a higher education? That won't solve the problem. Then there would simply be too many educated people.

Everyone got mad at me when I went off on RANTS about student debt to my granddaughter for at least a year before she graduated high school. They told me I was stressing her out, I was inhibiting her, that she should make her own choices blah blah blah.

Good news is, she listened!!! She resisted pressure from her mom and dad, her school guidance counselors and her friends - and is going to Community College for the first two years, then transferring a State University to finish her degree. In Virginia she has LOTS of good choices!

I have a friend who owns an HVAC company and she says almost all the techs are reaching 50. No incoming recruits.

Mike Rowe talks about the 'dirty jobs' our kids don't want to do! But someone has to do it!!

Argh I just figured out where the name of his latest TV show came from, just now. I feel stupid.

NE, the value of an education can be measured in more than its financial ROI. I bet your wife was challenged by her studies, enriched by her learning, and proud she achieved a goal that only about 8% of Americans have. It will be with her the rest of her life, no one can take it away or repossess her degree.

It may come in useful or be the edge that gets her her dream job years or even decades hence.

Lastly, I bet it made her feel good about herself for meeting the challenge. I would give you some friendly advice to not belittle her achievement by comparing it to a burnt out house and keep a smile on your face every month when you write those checks. Say "honey, I am so proud of you! You are such a fine wife to me and great mother to our children. So smart, too, with you sparkling diploma (have it framed and placed on a prominent wall in you home). I thank our father in Heaven every day for you."

Sparky you are correct - it is Sallie........but I also knew what was on NE mind.

JR, I'm not that mushy of a guy. If I did that, she'd think I didn't feel well. I certainly don't berate her for her achievements. She regrets having gone for more school already.

College is not worthless but there are certainly a number of worthless college degrees out there. The lie that is sold by universities is that a college degree = solid job opportunities and security. In fact it's just like the rest of life. If you don't time and plan and work towards an outcome that is beyond the goal you can easily end up with no future and lots of debt.

NE,

Congrats to your wife on her accomplishment! Lotsa hard work, esp with kiddos in tow.

BRAD

That is a great deal of money to spend so that she can be better stay at home business partner.

I hope she picked up skills to improve the business and the family.

@NE - I'm shaking my head over the fact that your wife did not get better advice from her undergrad advisor. The truth is, school districts HATE to take on people with Master's degrees, because nearly all the contracts require that they get paid more right off the bat.

@LTD - Maybe graphic designers in your neck of the woods start at $9 per hour, but my eldest graduated with a B.S. as a graphic designer, and was immediately hired as a freelancer at $18 per hour, and has moved up from there.

If you have to go to Harvard or Yale and run up your education bill so you can be a kindergarten teacher in your local public school stop whining and pay the bill.

To many have run up college bills with no expectation of getting the best job out there. Being a grad with a degree in English 14th century literature is not good planning. Although I'm sure there must be tons of jobs out there for that?????

Now we're suppose to feel sorry for them and THEIR college bill. Most could have stayed local without running up such debt. They all had a right to go where ever they wanted for schooling but now it's time to pay the piper.

How many took courses to minimize their debt at "local campuses"? I worked and paid as I went. If no money was available i didn't go that semester.

NE,

I'll bring it back:

Debtor is slave to the lender. -God

Rather than another income producing property that debt is a drain.

I look at car prices the same way - new Mercedes or another house bringing in another $1000 per month!

(How'd I do?)

BRAD

If those are government student loans she should look at income based repayment. IDK if they count spouse income I never looked.

A couple points:

1. If she teaches or works at a rough school she will get most of that forgiven after so many years. My sister is doing exactly this.

2. With income based repayment they will lower the payment to a percentage of her income and she will have to pay that for I think 10 years. After that they forgive the rest. In her case the payment might be like $150 a month.

If you make to much money look at other options. Discover was offering me like a $30k line of credit at say 3%, if her interest rates are 6.75% try to get them lower.