I agree with you, but mostly for a different reason: the opportunity cost. You can flip burgers for $10/hr indefinitely, or you can forego ~4 years of income, a

I agree with you, but mostly for a different reason: the opportunity cost. You can flip burgers for $10/hr indefinitely, or you can forego ~4 years of income, accept ~$30k in debt, to permanently raise your base salary to $100k if you pick, say, Software Engineering. So was the student debt worth it? At age 65, most certainly the college graduate will have accumulated more assets and have a higher net worth. Sure, debt repayment has a drag on a portfolio, but if you don't have a well-paying job, you're not even building that portfolio in the first place.