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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No.[/quote]

And to expand on this, having tens of thousands of dollars in debt in your 20s as you are starting your career can impede your ability to learn to save because it can just make it... hard to save. Even if you are financially responsible regarding your debt and  pay it down diligently, it leaves less left over to save or invest, which means it takes you longer to realize the benefits to saving/investing. It can also lead to lifestyle creep more easily because as your income increases, there will be a lot of pressure from peers to spend it on your lifestyle. If you've spent years budgeting to put money towards your loan, the temptation to take salary increases and spend them on vacations and restaurant meals, or a nicer apartment, will be strong. You've been "responsible" so why not, right? But that money should be going into savings towards a down payment or retirement.

Graduating from school debt free allows you to start saving immediately without having to budget for loan payments. You can even frame it that way, now -- "if you go to this program, you will graduate without debt, which will enable you to put $X into retirement or savings for a down payment instead of using it to pay off school."

Student debt sucks because there's no collateral. You can't escape it. You just have to pay it until it's gone. It's not quite as bad as credit card debt, assuming you complete your degree program (but if you don't complete your degree program, it's as bad as credit card debt, in some cases worse) but it's not like a mortgage where you always have the option of selling the property to get out of debt. And unlike credit card debt, you can't even discharge student debt in bankruptcy.[/quote]
All of this. Exactly. [/quote]

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