Pretty much this My wife and I are complete opposites. I went to state school, commuted from home, studied engineering, did well enough, got my M.S. paid for b

Pretty much this My wife and I are complete opposites. I went to state school, commuted from home, studied engineering, did well enough, got my M.S. paid for by the school (which is fairly easy to do if you are open to schools), now making 300k My wife went to a private college (40k per year), lived on campus, went into sciences, went to a private M.S. program (40k per year yet again) with no funding, now making 75k Our timelines are staggered by a few years (she worked before going for her master's) and she works for a non-profit while I work in tech, but I still think it's a worthwhile comparison as we've both arguably "put in" the same amount of time It's no wonder to me why people feel entrenched by student debt. Granted, my wife has super close college friends which I don't have. I'm not sure I'd trade for that though. Going to state school and keeping costs low in college was the best decision I ever made