But you&#x27;d have a job, so you wouldn&#x27;t be going into debt to pay your living expenses, debt you&#x27;re going to pay interest on. With the repayment schedules many people end up on, they spend two to three times more in just interest payments than was the original cost of everything.<p>It&#x27;s not equivalent at all. You wouldn&#x27;t take on unsustainable debt to move to a new city to sit around for 4 to 5 years with no job, with the hopes that it would open up a job that you could eventually use to pay your debt before or after the degree. But we make kids do it during their degrees.<p>It took me seven years to pay off my student loan debt. I was lucky. I know people on 15- and 30-year plans. 4 to 5 years of lack of income, then missed investment opportunities because--even though you&#x27;re technically making more with this degree--you have less disposable income because of all the debt servicing you have to do. It adds up. it&#x27;s not 1-to-1 at all.