Reply to Financially hobbled for life- elite masters degree that don’t pay off

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]But for every story about people not being able to pay off debt- there’s stories like my dhs. His family didn’t give him any money (didn’t believe in it- I think they could have helped). He took out 15k a year and by the time he graduated it was 80k. He made 80k in his first job. We got married at 24 and I helped pay off his loans too. We paid them all off by 26 and we also saved for a down payment during this time. Definitely lived like church mice. Dh has his dream job and they paid for his masters. I have a few friends with this same amount of debt and they’re still wallowing in it a decade after graduation. Some haven’t paid it down at all. They have 50k cars though, but somehow rant about student loans. [/quote]

But that was undergrad debt, and you guys got married early and you helped him pay it off. You were a two income household, no kids. If I’d had a partner in my 20s to help me pay down my debt (and to share living expenses so I didn’t have to live with multiple roommates), I also would have been able to pay it down sooner.

But I had no undergrad debt (state school plus scholarship plus student job). I borrowed for grad school, graduated in my late 20s, struggled to find a job, then the subprime crisis hit and I got laid off, struggled to find another job, got married in the midst of this. Then had to make the choice between paying my loans down aggressively or having a child, and chose a child because what the hell is the point of life anyway?

So yeah, I’m in my 40s and still paying loans, and I don’t have a luxury car and I have worked hard. But I didn’t get lucky. I didn’t have a spouse or family to help me pay it down, I got screwed by some bad timing in the job market, and I was up against my reproductive viability.

What if I got lucky too? Like in the form of a debt forgiveness program that just reduced my pronocople by some amount of helped me with interest? Why is that kind of luck somehow “unfair” but your DH’s good fortune is fine?[/quote]
DP.. life is unfair.  Why do some kids have to go hungry, be homeless, have no support at home and so the vicious poverty cycle continues while others are lucky enough to be born to parents who can provide stability and a good life.   This game could go on and on.

Is society supposed to provide a level playing field for everyone that has bad luck in life?[/quote]

.... Yes?

I don't think you can ever totally level the playing field, but I absolutely think we all benefit from helping those less fortunate, whether it's someone born into poverty or someone too disabled to work or someone being crushed by student debt. When we help those who are not in a position to help themselves, we maximize the efficiency of society, channeling resources to those who can best use them. It's also morally the right thing to do.

The alternative is to just hope you get lucky and to be okay with living in a world surrounded by pain and suffering that you are in a position to help but don't. Does that actually sound preferable to you?[/quote]

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