I was fortunate. My parents helped me extensively with my education, and I completed both an AB and an MDiv degree, debt-free. I got married two and a half years into my Bachelor’s degree, and both Deanne and I worked as best we were able for the next four and a half years. Deanne had also taken on some debt for her two years of inconclusive undergraduate work. We worked to pay that off. Deanne then completed an Associate Degree. We paid that off. When the wheels came off our personal wagon, with Deanne dangerously ill and my career looking like it was imploding, I called time out and went back to school to get a doctorate. I joked with people that I was a professional student, since my stipend as a University Fellow was technically more than I was paying in tuition. But I also worked multiple part-time jobs to feed my family. And Deanne, as soon as she was able, got a job, too. Then she went back to finish her BS degree, working all the while. When we graduated, we both had some debt. So we paid that off. After some years in the labor force, but never quite scoring the job her degree had prepared her for, Deanne’s arthritis was preventing her from keeping up with her work. She needed to switch careers to something where she worked with her brains instead of her hands. So she went back to school – to my old seminary, in fact – to get a Master of Arts in Counseling. She cashed out her little 401K to help pay for it. My salary paid most of rest, including her travel costs, residency in another State, etc. When she finished, she had a little debt. And we paid that off. We have made our share of bad decisions. We have bought some bad cars, obtained some ornamental degrees, jumped at opportunities that didn’t pan out, blown windfalls we should have saved. We have had our share of crises and illnesses. Throughout everything, we have worked hard. We have paid our bills. We have (no brag, just fact) given sacrificially to church and other charities. And we are currently debt-free. We keep one credit card available, and pay off its balance every month. We own our twenty acres in the woods free and clear, and all the expensive lumber and tools going into this house-that-refuses-to-get-itself-built is coming out of what we have laid aside. Despite all our youthful profligacy and ill-considered actions, we have money to do whatever we really want to, largely because we have chosen to live a life not based upon wanting too much. Our goal is to live the out-of-debt, low-cash-flow lifestyle when Deanne finally retires. I have often envied those of my friends who made better decisions or who got better opportunities. But that’s a fool’s game. Their success did not come at my expense. In the end, I have enough. I am content. At the same time, I have never criticized those who labor under a mound of student debt. Not everyone starts from the same place or has the same breaks. I wasn’t there to give them advice, and they might have resented me if I had tried to give it. I will not second-guess their decisions. And I am not a better person because I’m currently in a better place, financially. But folks, the only way to get out of debt is to PAY. IT. OFF. And the way to stay out of debt is the same way your grandparents used to tell you: spend less than you earn; don’t snatch and grab at things; work hard, even in jobs that don’t pay you what you think you’re worth; stay out of divorce court. If you were looking for a handout, there’s my two cents to add to your rainy day fund.