The dd of one of my friends just graduated with 80,000 in debt. She is a music teacher now. She will be paying that off for many a year to come, is knowing now that she will probably have to work 2 jobs to manage things. She could not/would not see that when she started into all this and she had been warned. Thankfully she was hired into a school right away, and does some nanny-ing that pays $15 an hour as her second job. She has a determined personality, so she is forging ahead, but if she falls in love, gets married and starts a family she will be in financial troubles unless she keeps working full time and/or he has a great paying job.

That kind of debt is what will keep women in the workforce and out of the home. What an undertaking for a young couple to take on. Imagine husband and wife having $80,000 each in debt when they get married?

What young folks naively don't understand is that taking on that kind of debt load to get a degree with next to no income potential is just plain dumb. Taking on that kind of debt load for a career where you can make a ton of money in relatively short order (IT, engineering, nursing, etc.) is still not the smartest thing to do but is somewhat justifiable, but taking on that much debt to get a degree in education, social work, liberal arts, etc. is just ignorant. I knew a guy who graduated with something around $80k in student loans and the best job he could find paid him in the thirties. Of course, if you go into specific types of government jobs they "forgive" your loans, so you can see where a conspiracy theorist might find some fertile ground here...

I wouldn't call anyone "plain dumb" - especially someone just starting out in life - we've all made mistakes in life. And, by definition, we're all "ignorant" when we are starting in life - you can't possibly start life with a lifetime of knowledge & experience.

The government and education systems both make these options sound like the are of great benefit, which is really not fair to young people who must take *someone's* word for what paths are good to take in life.

The young woman I was discussing was in a high-profit career that took a nose dive while she was in school.

Engineering, nursing, & IT all have good education options which require few or no loans.

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